Silent Hill: God's Wrath
by Drifter the unknown cowboy
Summary: James Sunderland was missed by a dear friend who needs him more than is healthy. Anyone who frequents Deviantart has probably seen this, but I wanted all you crazy FF.net guys to have it too! Please read and review!
1. I Obsession

SILENT HILL- Obsession  
  
Noah woke up in a stone cold sweat, gasping heavily for air.  
  
The nightmare had been fierce and more horrid than usual.   
  
"They're getting worse every damn night..." Noah whispered  
  
hoarsely to himself, letting his head rest against the pillow.  
  
It was no good, there'd be no getting back to sleep for him tonight.  
  
He shifted his gaze to the right, squinting at the luminescent hands of the small clock  
  
atop the dresser. It was almost 5 am, on his one day off from work the whole week.  
  
And he couldn't even sleep, all because of that damned ghost town.  
  
Noah slowly rose himself out of bed as a vampire would from it's coffin, moving   
  
as if invisble strings slowly pulled his body upright. His lightweight form   
  
slinked through the darkness, discovering the switch in the bathroom and flicking   
  
it irritably with his index finger. Noah shut his eyes as the light came on instantly,  
  
the harsh brightness threatening to blind him for good. The next half an hour consisted   
  
of Noah's normal wake up ritual, splashing cold water on his face and slapping it hard   
  
across the cheeks while muttering things only he understood. His thoughts burned along   
  
the highways of his mind, driving him mad. Or more so, he'd never been right in the head.  
  
He'd broken two of his foster mother's ribs at the age of eighteen, spending years in prison  
  
prior to that and never regretting a single day. She was a whore, a filthy little whore.   
  
Every night she'd come home with a different man, doing different dirty things with each one.  
  
She would always come to his room, after he had been subjected to hearing the cries and moans  
  
of her sinfuls acts. She would come and ask him the same questions every night, was he hungry,  
  
was school fun, did he see his friends today. He'd never answered a one of them, always   
  
turning away from her as he lay in his bed and feigned sleep. He didn't need her coddling.  
  
When he was hungry he'd buy food, or steal it. He never enjoyed school, and had no friends.   
  
The studies interested him enough, but the other children were all so ignorant and below him.  
  
They used to hit him, in the beginning. Corner him in the locker room or sit around him   
  
during lunch and tease him. He tolerated it until his freshman year, when a particularly  
  
unnecesary one of the arrogant jock types had dropped his lunch tray to the floor.   
  
He'd thrown the poor idiot a marvelous beating then, slamming his head into the table and   
  
stabbing him through the eye with a fork. Off to juvenile prison he'd gone after that,   
  
all manner of psychiatrists and baffoons calling themselves doctors trying to figure him.   
  
Trying to make him say why he'd done such a ghastly thing. And he'd told them right and proper  
  
over and over, that he simply put the oversized gorilla in his place. They all disagreeed with him  
  
of course, making all sorts of theories and having all kinds of ideas about him. But Noah knew,   
  
for no one ever so much as called him a name ever again. And that was how this wicked world  
  
was survived, by taking all you need and toppling those who try to climb over you. It was at that  
  
time that his foster mother had come to see him in the prison, in tears and whining like a stuck   
  
pig all about how disaponited she was and what had she done wrong and every other damn thing.  
  
He distinctly remembered laughing out loud once she'd finished, standing up and leaving the   
  
visiting room without so much as a glance back. He wasn't terribly bothered by prison,   
  
once he'd asserted to all the killers and rapists and so forth that he was not to be trifled with  
  
it was rather like what he'd wished school would be. Peaceful, plenty of time to read and study  
  
various things of interest. Then came that horrid woman who called him her son, paying his   
  
way out for him as if she was dong him some great service. But he didn't really want to leave,  
  
and he knew that he'd be put back into her care. He wasn't yet eighteen however and couldn't   
  
legally be allowed on his own, so away he went. He applied himself to the loathsome task of staying  
  
with her until his eighteenth birthday, striking off on his own that very night. She had tried to   
  
keep him there, using words and tears to try and appeal to him. Two of her ribs were broken when   
  
he'd pushed her aside, walking out the door without even thinking about how badly she'd been hurt.  
  
She never called the police however, or they never came for him at the very least. And some part  
  
of his heart had held the slightest bit of tenderness for that. That tenderness took root,   
  
as his independant life went on. It spread throught his body like a plague, infecting him.   
  
Every blessed day it poisoned him more and more until at last he realized the truth,  
  
that he was indeed sick. Mentally and emotionally, and he needed help.   
  
Unfortunately he couldn't afford such help by normal means, having a single job that  
  
underpaid him for work that insulted his intelligence constantly. Therefore he sought   
  
to help himself, reading all he could find about mental condtions and what caused them,   
  
how doctors went about curing them. He was in the library every second he was not at work,   
  
desperately searching for an answer. Noah gave a goulish grin to the mirror, turning from   
  
it and leaving the bathroom. In the dawn's waking light he found his way to the pantry easily,   
  
taking a bottle of wild turkey from the liquor cabinet as he sat down in his favorite chair.  
  
It pointed towards the living room window, allowing him to watch the gorgeous sunrise in all  
  
it's spendor. As his lips drank from the bottle, he watched that pretty scene and was reminded  
  
of the answer he'd finally found. The day he'd met James Sunderland, the man who'd shown him  
  
how to live. James had always been a troubled, sad wraith of a man. They'd first met while  
  
in the library, hunting for the same book dealing with emotional trauma. It had been out,   
  
long overdue by some imbecile most likely using it as a coaster. He and James had both been   
  
disinheartened at that, until later that evening when Noah had shown up at James' apartment.  
  
The very book they'd both wanted in his hand. He'd told James that he'd stayed late after their  
  
parting at the library and that the book had been dropped off during that time. And that he'd  
  
found James' home on pure coincidence, finding the wallet James had dropped while at the   
  
library. Neither of which had been true of course. He'd taken a peek at the records while   
  
the librarian was using the restroom, found the address of the tardy bookholder and gone  
  
to his home directly, taking the book back and managing to avoid a confrontation or any   
  
serious harm to the slovenly man. Then he'd examined the wallet he'd swiftly  
  
taken from James' back pocket earlier, and proceeded to his house. James never suspected a   
  
thing, believing in fate and luck and all other manner of silliness. It was in that long   
  
night of talking that Noah found out why.  
  
James' wife had died several years ago, and the   
  
poor man was so hoping she'd somehow return. As if by miracle. The entire buisiness made  
  
Noah feel ill, but over time he and James came to rely on each other. They were best friends,  
  
only friends as a matter of fact. Though Noah was only twenty three and James in his thirties,   
  
their intellgence seemed fairly equaled and the things James took an interest in..Talks of   
  
the mind's innermost workings, the ignorance of other people, doctors most especially.   
  
The general sad state of the world and the duty of men like them, to rise above it.   
  
They walked, they talked, they played sports outdoors during day and shared drink and   
  
deep talkings of philosophy at night. Ever so slowly, Noah began to understand that he   
  
was not as superior as he'd thought. That it was better to give than receive, better to help  
  
then to push aside. Noah felt himself becoming almost as a normal, happy man might be.   
  
Every day it grew a bit stronger inside him, every day he spent with James melted a bit more  
  
of the ice surrounding Noah's heart. He would drink too much and talk of things that he   
  
didn't wish too, reveal the secrets of his childhood, the lonliness of being abandoned  
  
and looked down upon. James seemed to identify with it all, understanding and never thinking  
  
badly of Noah's foolish drunken despair and sobbing confessions. When James lost his job,   
  
and later, his apartment. Noah insisted James stay at his, gladly making room for his one  
  
true friend. He'd talked to his employer at the docks and arranged work for James as well.   
  
He was more than suited to the task physically, and he loved the open sea. James almost seemed   
  
to see something in all that vastness that Noah could not. And then, it had all fallen away.   
  
A letter had come for James during his day off, and when Noah had arrived home James was gone.  
  
Gone to a little town called silent hill with no explanation of why, after a week Noah began   
  
to feel peculiar. He stayed up all hours of the night on the internet, learning all he could  
  
about the town. There were rumors of people vanishing, never heard from again. The town   
  
itself had a grisly history of mysterious and gruesome happenings, people going insane   
  
and the like. Noah let his tears fall freely, watching the sun rise higher into the sky through   
  
the window. It had now been a month, but it felt to Noah like James had been gone for years.  
  
Noah drank deeply from the bottle, throwing it at the window suddenly and watching it crash  
  
through. Glass fell everywhere, as Noah staggered to his feet. He made his way slowly to the   
  
computer and went about securing a plane ticket. "By God's own wrath James..." Noah spoke  
  
out to himself, "I won't leave you to that beastly place and have it claim your soul." 


	2. II Arrival

SILENT HILL- ARRIVAL  
  
The hairs on the back of Noah's neck rasied as soon as he stepped out of the taxi, as a dense fog curled lazily around him.   
  
There was something very wrong inherient in the air, as if something nearby smelled, actually smelled like pure evil.   
  
"What do I owe, please?" Noah politely inquired of the cab driver, ducking his head as he retrieved his own suitcase from the backseat.  
  
Oddly, The driver gave no answer. "Hey." Noah called, tapping the driver on the shoulder with his free hand. What was with this idiot?  
  
Noah was certain that a town this blantently small and creepy would have cab drivers climbing over each other for a decent fare.   
  
The driver turned quite suddenly to face Noah, his head moving in quick jerking motions as if he were trying to nod his head and shake it   
  
at the same time. Noah was stunned into silence, as the driver simply stared at him. If you could even call it staring, seeing as how the   
  
man had no face whatsoever. A pale, brownish patch of skin lay where a face should have been. It looked dirty, as if some local punks  
  
had dragged him face down behind a car until his face had been completely worn off. The driver's head wouldn't stop twitching, as a strange  
  
kind of silence filled Noah's ears. The cab's radio was going haywire with static, and a deeper, almost inaudible groaning . Red markings   
  
began to swirl around the driver's lack of a face, forming an eerie design that ressembled a pyramid inside a circle. All around it were   
  
writings in a language even someone as well versed as Noah had never seen before. The awful noises pressured Noah's ears more,   
  
as the world faded into a white blanket. Suddenly Noah was standing on a deserted street, watching as the cab drove off into an unseen horizon.  
  
The fog was so thick now he couldn't even see the road the cab had left by. "Merciful Christ, what is this place..." Noah whispered, his mind   
  
refusing to erase what he'd just seen. "it's a trick, it must be." Noah reasoned, squinting as he surveyed his surroundings. "Some country bumpkin  
  
trick to excite the tourists, yes it must be that." Noah spoke to himself, unable to make himself fully believe it. There was what looked like a scrap  
  
of paper lying in the street. It was safe enough to walk out into the road and pick it up, Noah couldn't see or hear any signs of life anywhere.   
  
As he bent down to grasp it, he saw that it was folded over several times. Unfolding it revealed a map, entitled 'Old Silent Hill'. It wasn't  
  
very well designed, and held no details about his surroundings whatsoever. But it did point the way to a gas station about five minutes from where  
  
he stood, if he was reading the map right . Noah began to walk, holding the map out in front of him and referring to it frequently as he went.   
  
He faintly heard the sound of a car idling nearby, using the sound to home in on the gas station which was as he'd feared. Utterly empty.   
  
The car parked in the lot was indeed running, but there was no owner in sight. Furthermore the car had apparentely been crashed into the   
  
gas station, it's entire front end was inside the building. Noah entered the station and saw that the front counter had been demolished   
  
by the large sedan. Papers and goods were everywhere, the cash register lay ajar on the floor. Bills caught by the wind flew freely from it,   
  
and Noah took the time to pocket a few. None of this even came close to making any sense to him. If what he'd witnessed earlier was indeed a hoax,  
  
then why the hell would the townspeople leave all this money behind? Would they not stay about to frighten him further, so that he could   
  
go back home with crazy tales of ghosts and spooks and send more unsuspecting tourists to the town? Noah poked around the station some more,   
  
finding nothing usefull aside from some beef jerky and a relatively safe looking health drink produced by an unknown company.   
  
Perhaps this was all part of the hoax? The map, the deserted streets, the totalled establishments? Would they really go to such lengths to sell   
  
people on the concept of a real life ghost town? The stories he'd read had been mostly unimpressive disapearances, strange and fatal accidents,  
  
and several accounts of 'ghosts'. What had struck Noah as odd was that unlike most stories of this type no bodies had ever been recovered from   
  
Silent Hill, even in the accidents said to have claimed lives. There had, in one case been smears of blood leading away from a wrecked truck.  
  
As if the victim had inexplicably crawled away instead of waiting for help, or perhaps been dragged away. It was all very irregular, and although  
  
still skeptical about any supernatural danger Noah was eager to find James quickly and get out of this town even quicker. He sat down on the   
  
front end of the still running car, studying the map to plan out his next move. About a mile away was Brookhaven hospital, if James had been hurt at all  
  
that would be the most likely place to find him. And a police station was only a couple blocks over from that, he'd go there if he couldn't find anything  
  
out at the hospital. Noah nodded to himself, content with the plan for now. As he stood up from the car's front end, he wondered breifly why there'd   
  
been no movement or shift in the sudden abscence of his weight on the car. Noah turned, rubbing his chin as he inspected the automobile.   
  
His hand went promptly to his mouth, as his eyes refused to focus on anything but the car. There may very well have been an accident,   
  
but no amount of impact or force could create what he saw in front of him. There was no hole, no point of entry where the car crashed through  
  
the wall into the gas station. Noah shook slightly, his hand glued to his mouth as his mind desperately tried to release itself from fear's grip.  
  
It wasn't possible, simple physics should forbid such a thing. The car actually seemed as if it were part of the wall. Noah understood now.  
  
There were no tricks to this town, no hoaxes, no tourist traps. Something here, in this place was very wrong. Noah literally ran into the front door  
  
of the station, cracking the glass into a spider web pattern. His hand closed around the handle, tugging at it forcefully. It wouldn't open.   
  
Noah's mind was racing, and he was at that very moment shitting himself with fright. How could the door not open? He'd seen no lock,   
  
no deadbolt, nothing that could keep the door shut. Had someone shut him in? Noah backed away from the door, catching a glimpse of   
  
someone, or something walking through the thick fog. Things were suddenly way beyond Noah's control, he had to get to the hospital fast.   
  
The logical part of him screamed that he should leave, find the closest way out of town and be on it as soon as possible. But he couldn't leave James.  
  
That the stories about Silent Hill were true only made it more imperitive to rescue James, and proved that he must indeed need rescuing by now.   
  
He'd left a month ago, Noah had only been here ten minutes and already the most unspeakable things were happening to him.   
  
Against his better judgement, Noah crawled into the abandoned wreck of a car. It seemed the only possible way out of here now. His hands   
  
gripped the seats tightly as he scrambled into the car, and into the back seat. He screamed as he kicked the rear window out, sliding himself through   
  
and sustaining several scrapes and cuts as his legs and face brushed against the broken glass. Outside it was snowing, actually snowing in the   
  
middle of August. As he looked frantically back for a last glimpse of the haunted gas station, he saw it was no longer there. In fact the car now seemed  
  
imbedded in the solid brick wall that stood where the station had just been. Noah turned away briskly, fumbling around in his pocket for the map  
  
as he ran off into the growing afternoon. He refused, utterly refused to acknowledge that the brick wall had been bleeding. But that was nothing, he realized.  
  
Nothing compared to what he now held in his hands.   
  
The map had been completely rewroked as if by magic, and the title now read "Wecome To Silent Hell". 


	3. III Brookhaven

SILENT HILL- Brookhaven  
  
The soft crunching of snow under his feet was Noah's sole link to reality, the only thing reminding him that he wasn't dreaming.   
  
He'd stopping running after he'd passed the bowling alley, so out of breath that it had been tempting to go inside and rest.  
  
But he had to keep going, he couldn't stop. The last place he'd gone into had only been a gas station, God only knew  
  
what would happen to him in a bowling alley. The map said that there was a bar of some kind coming up on the right,   
  
a place called Heaven's Night. After that, the hospital was the next building on that street. Noah walked as fast as he could,  
  
breathing in slow puffs as he finally began to calm down. No one was following him, and as he passed by the bar he felt  
  
slightly relieved. It was right around the corner now, and once he got to the hospital even if it was deserted there had to be   
  
drinks and probably food too. He was getting damn hungry, and had nothing but a package of dried beef jerky on him.   
  
All the things he'd thought to bring were in his suitcase, which the maniacal cab driver had convieniently taken off with.   
  
The contents of his pockets were sparse. A cheap lighter less than half full, the questionable map, his wallet   
  
and a small marker he'd taken from the gas station and used to mark on his map where it had been.   
  
Noah withdrew the map from his pocket, squinting at it as the sun was almost completely set now. It should have been  
  
there, right there where he was standing. But there was no hospital, no nothing actually. Only a strange grey tarp stretched  
  
over a blank wall. At least Noah was assuming it was just a blank wall, and if it wasn't he didn't want to go investigating  
  
since he didn't even have a weapon. "What the hell is going on?!" Noah shouted suddenly, fighting an urge to tear the map to shreds.  
  
A loud groaning followed on the heels of his own voice, and footsteps close behind that. Noah whirled around, backing quickly away  
  
as the sound of footsteps grew louder. "What..What is it..." Noah mumbled, the momentary relief already long gone.   
  
HIs heel caught something cold and hard, causing him to fall and land hard on his ass. Noah looked around for   
  
what had tripped him, and found a long steel pipe sticking half out of the ground. The rest of it was buried, but it was   
  
old and extremely rusty. Noah only had to kick it once to break off the exposed section. It wasn't exactly Excaliber,   
  
but just enough to defend himself. The fog in front of him parted, as the groaning echoed ever closer.  
  
Slowly walking towards him, bent backwards so that it's torso was parallel to the ground was some kind of creature.   
  
It had the rough shape of a human, but it's head was enormous. At least as big around as Noah's chest.   
  
As it got slowly closer Noah readied the pipe and stood tense, prepared to attack at a moment's notice.   
  
Noah could now see that the large bulbous mass he'd thought was a head was more like a tail, as two large eyes  
  
glared at him from what ought to have been the monster's hips. The whole torso like section seemed to be the actual head,   
  
and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth gleamed from atop that head. If it had been human, Noah thought,   
  
the mouth would be in the exact spot the heart occupies. It was frightening, so terribly frightening to look at that Noah began   
  
to feel weak. Adrenaline took over his body as the monstrosity lunged for him while still a good eight feet away,   
  
it's arms reaching out as it came. Noah jumped aside, spinning clockwise with the pipe and bashing it into the monster's head as it  
  
turned to face him once more. Now it was only inches from him, and Noah could see it was dripping blood from it's mouth.   
  
Could this thing have killed James? As soon as the thought crossed his mind rage came with it, and this time Noah moved first.   
  
He swung like a major league batter chasing a wide pitch, bringing the pipe alongside the creature's legs with a sickening crunch.  
  
It howled painfully, sinking as it's arms lashed out wildly. Noah saw his chance and bashed it's head with the pipe. One, two, three  
  
times, each blow covering both him and the monster with it's thick crimson blood. The creature collapsed, it's agonizing scream fading   
  
into a gurgle as it choked on it's own fluid. Noah stood hunched over it, breathing hard as he brought his heel down on it. Blood squirted  
  
along the leg of his jeans, quickly soaking through to his leg. He stumbled away from the mess, looking around for more of them   
  
as the mad grin slowly left his face. And there, where he was positive there had been nothing stood Brookhaven hospital.   
  
Exhausted, Noah lumbered towards the building. No lights, no signs of life. Another abandoned death trap, he suspected.   
  
But the way things changed in this town, for all he knew it could have been the safest place for him. Upon reaching the steps,   
  
he had a thought and withdrew the map and marker. If he kept marking places he found, navigating would become increasingly  
  
easier. As he pulled the cap from the marker and circled the hospital, he was amazingly not at all shocked to see that the map  
  
no longer listed it as Brookhaven hospital. Instead, the simple outline of the building had 'mental clinic' scrawled across it in what   
  
looked like a child's writing. Noah chuckled loudly, feeling as if the town itself were plucking strands of sanity from him one by one   
  
like hairs from a balding man's head. As Noah tucked the map away and prepared to enter the building, he caught the sound   
  
of faint static somewhere close by. He opened the large oak door as he turned behind him, glancing around. Something heavy and sharp  
  
clocked him directly in the head, apparentely thrown at him from inside the hospital. Noah staggered back, shouting aloud his hatred   
  
for the god forsaken town. He rubbed the back of his head, wincing as his hand came back stained with blood. It wasn't bad, just a scrape.   
  
He noticed the culprit laying on the stairs, a small metallic red radio. Still emitting the same type of eerie static that had poured from   
  
the taxi cab when all of this madness started. He picked it up, intent on throwing it right back. As soon as it has in his hand the static  
  
grew exponentially louder, with whispers and groans audible in the background. Almost before the realization took, Noah spun on his heel   
  
to see the ghastly thing standing once more. It looked hurt and quite angry. Noah swiftly pocketed the radio, reclaiming the pipe as   
  
the creature ran straight at him. It's head, now severely dented and broken was upside down now. It was running towards him on it's hands.  
  
What used to be the back of it's head was now lined with teeth running all the way to it's ass. It looked almost as if it had simply turned itself  
  
over and been miraculously revived. "Get the hell out of here you fiend!" Noah uttered his battle cry, rushing to meet the monster and shoving the pipe  
  
clean through the bastard's mouth. He'd been just fast enough, as the creature fell and died on the spot. It's closing maw stopping less than an inch  
  
from Noah's arms. He promptly kicked it in the head, tugging simultaneously on the pipe to wedge it free from the monster's body. He brought the pipe  
  
across the creature's head several times, batting it around the street until it was in pieces. When he was satisfied, he tucked the pipe curtly under his arm  
  
and returned to the hospital doors. He took the radio from his pocket, turning the volume to maximum. Somehow, whatever was in this town emmited  
  
a certain frequency. It would seem that an unknown entity had given him a slight advantage. Putting the radio back into his pocket as he entered the building,  
  
Noah held the pipe ready once more. Now he knew for sure there were things here, inhuman, unbeliveable things. Things that needed killing.   
  
The next thing that moves, dies. Inside the hospital, it was relatively clean. What was more, nothing looked disturbed or broken into.   
  
Perhaps the hospital really was safe. There were a lot of locked doors, Noah noticed as he journeyed the hallway. Jiggling doors as he went,   
  
and keeping a look out for anything suspicious.   
  
The room which housed the reception desk turned out to be the only accesible place, as Noah opened the door cautiously.   
  
There on the desk, as if placed there as first prize was a handgun. A shiny silver beretta 9mm to be exact, fully loaded. Under it was the same   
  
hauntingly bright red marking he'd seen in the taxi. Noah felt drawn to it, and slowly picked up the gun. As soon as he did his ears rung with   
  
the most awful sound. Sirens, like the old ones used for air raid warnings. Their noise filled Noah's head, pressing his brain against his skull as he   
  
fought to stay conscious. He staggered back out the door, hissing a deep inward breath as the doorknob began bleeding all over his hand.  
  
Lines of blood remeniscent of veins snaked along the walls and across the floor, suffocating the room until it was a dark mass of sinew.  
  
Noah practically threw himself out the doorway, trying to escape it all. The sirens faded away, but the veiny lines of red liquid continued to dominate   
  
his surroundings. They reached the ceiling, extending down the hallway. It was so nightmarish Noah could only make soft barking sounds as he tried   
  
to scream. In the distance, much further down the hallway which now seemed to lead into hell itself there were figures. More of those horrible monsters   
  
Noah was sure. He dragged himself across the floor to lean up against a wall, feeling slight stings of pain as the entire building now seemed intent   
  
on devouring him. The pipe had been lost inside the receptionist room, thousands of horrid tendrils now held it in a death grip. He only had the gun,   
  
and 15 bullets. The figures closing in on him seemed to be doctors, one of them could have been a nurse. Noah was having trouble even seeing  
  
straight anymore. He raised the gun, squinting down the sight of the barrel. It was too risky, he'd only waste bullets at this distance.   
  
The radio in his pocket screamed bloody murder at him as two more figures came from the other side of the hallway, much closer than the others.   
  
Noah shook his head, gritting his teeth as he slapped himself across the face. Hard. He would not die here, not while James Sunderland was  
  
still missing. Glancing around desperately for anything that could possibly aid him, Noah spied an elevator. It was far, at the extreme east  
  
end of the hall. Tucked in a corner behind the hobbling doctors closing in on him. It was his only chance. Noah took a deep breath, held it in his lungs  
  
and pushed it slowly out of his nostrils. The he ran, faster than he ever had in his life. They all saw him move and quick as a whip they gave pursuit.   
  
They weren't terribly fast, but gained on him quicker than he'd hoped they would. The elevator was right there in front of him, he could almost reach out and touch   
  
it. Almost there. A gunshot rang out, as Noah felt an incredible pain in his arm. One of the doctor creatures held a smoking revolver, as they all came   
  
towards him moaning like tortured souls. They'd shot him, they'd actually shot him. Noah was equal parts mad and scared, as he made himself stand the pain and   
  
slammed his hand into the elevator button. The ghoulish people were coming, brandishing pipes and metal rods, parts from bedframes. All meant for him.   
  
For his demise. The elevator's light moved down to the third floor, he was on the first. It was taking too long. He wouldn't make it.   
  
He was going to be torn apart before the elevator ever got here. Defeated, Noah leveled the gun and began shooting. 


	4. IV Estelle

SILENT HILL- ESTELLE  
  
Three of what were now close enough that Noah could see they were hospital staff dropped to the floor, the others  
  
simply treading over their fallen comrades and continuing on. He had fired five shots, one had missed completely   
  
and ricocheted dangerously close to him. Another had found it's way into a nurse's leg, not even slowing her down.   
  
The other three had been decent head shots, which seemed to be a weak point providing the undead lumbering things   
  
pursuing him had any at all. Ten bullets were left now, and the pain in Noah's shoulder was distracting him more every second.   
  
He thought the bullet must have pierced his shoulder joint or at least come close, he could barely move his right arm and   
  
had to shoot with his less adept left. There were far too many of them, at least twenty and that was just at the passing glances  
  
Noah managed between shots. He sighted up a tall doctor's temple with the beretta, squeezing the trigger as another wave of   
  
pain screamed across his wounded arm. His heart threatened to stop on him, as Noah heard only a click. The gun was jammed.   
  
"Fucking fuck it all!" Noah shouted, fumbling with sweaty hands as he worked the gun's chamber trying desperately to free the defective   
  
round. The elevator bell dinged again, and Noah heard grinding metal as he was pulled backwards. The panic and blood loss  
  
overtook him at last, his vision blacking out as he saw the elevator doors slide shut in front of his shoes. He fell back, catching   
  
a glimpse of someone standing over him as his consciousness left him.   
  
Noah awoke with a high pitched shriek, falling off the gurney and tumbling over to the floor. He noticed that the floor was normal.   
  
And dirty, ugly green tiles stained brown and black. But there was no blood, and no animate parts. He jerked himsef upwards,   
  
looking around at the room. It was small, smaller than most hospital rooms anyways. As he checked himself over, Noah saw   
  
that his arm was securely bandaged. The bleeding had stopped, and he felt inexplicably calmed. "It's the drugs." A soft female   
  
voice offered, as Noah turned to face it. There was a woman at the other side of the room, placing various medical bottles into a   
  
cabinet already lined with them. Facing the wall, Noah could only see her long black hair set over her thin frame. Powder   
  
blue pants fitting loosely with a black belt around the waist extended from the ends of her hair down to her dirty white sneakers.   
  
"Who...How did...What did you do..." Noah stammered over his words in a dazed tone, still wobbly from whatever she had given him.   
  
"I suppose I saved your life, at least for now." She answered, closing the cabinet. Noah put a hand to his forehead, trying to remember.  
  
The girl had pulled him into the elevator he knew that, but who was she? How could she have been in a place like this and not been  
  
attacked as he had? "What do you mean for now?" Noah asked suspiciously, eyeing the gun resting on a chair that stood  
  
between the two of them. He stepped towards it, seeing the girl turn her head slightly before he even moved. "You can have it back,   
  
I fixed it." She said, as Noah snatched it up quickly. The lodged bullet was sitting beside the gun, Noah checked the clip and found  
  
it was fully loaded again. "What are you doing here.." Noah asked, his tone growing deeper as his mistrust rose. He realized he'd   
  
practically growled it at her, and was a little sorry. But it was just too strange, her apperance had been too convienient.   
  
"You have to stop, or you won't survive." The girl spoke plainly, touching the wall in front of her. It was all the more suspicious  
  
that she refused to turn around and face him. She was obviously hiding something. "You are good, Noah. I see it. You're not like him."  
  
The girl spoke again, her voice barely above a whisper. She had a sweet voice, and soothing, almost melodic. Could she be a nurse here?   
  
Somehow unaffected by whatever had happened to everyone else? "I don't remember telling my name to you." Noah accused,   
  
raising the gun. "You didn't need to, this place knows." She giggled, her body slowly rocking from side to side. She put her ear to the wall,   
  
and Noah could almost see the side of her face. Beside the gurney was a flashlight, albeit a tiny one. The radio was silent, implying   
  
she wasn't some kind of monster. But humans could be just as dangerous, and Noah wasn't stupid. His left hand grabbed the flashlight,  
  
switching it on and shining it forward as his right hand kept the gun on the strange woman. "Turn around. " Noah ordered, stepping closer.  
  
The girl brought her head away from the wall, looking upwards slightly as she sighed. "Oh, you poor man. You have to try and see the truth,  
  
or else you'll die here like the others." Others? Noah thought, his tension rising. Could this short girl have killed everyone in the town   
  
all by herself? Noah wouldn't have guessed her age at anything over nineteen. "I've seen all manner of backwards shit today, lady."  
  
Noah countered, stepping a little closer. "So you tell me, what part of this backwater mindfuck do you think is the truth? And I'll only ask once  
  
more for you to please turn around." The girl finally did face him, pivoting her feet in place as she slowly turned. Her gaze meeting the floor.   
  
"Look at me." Noah demanded, holding the gun close to her. As she obeyed, Noah's body shivered at the sight of her. She seemed to feel it,   
  
and tilted her head slightly. Her expression was a sorrowful one, as she met him with eyes that would forever remain peacefully closed.  
  
Somone, perhaps herself had sewn them shut. "I'll tell you this Noah.." She spoke, her voice still soft and unwaivering.   
  
"You mustn't rely on your eyes to see in this town, nor a gun to protect you." 


	5. V Sight

SILENT HILL-SIGHT  
  
Noah slowly lowered himself into the room's single chair, the gun loose in his grip and pointed at the floor.   
  
"What the....I don't understand this....I don't understand this place at all..." He groaned, crouching with his elbows  
  
resting on his legs. His palms supported his head as he stared at the floor. The girl slowly approached him, her light   
  
steps making almost no sound at all. Noah didn't move, he doubted the girl was of any danger to him. He didn't   
  
really care even if she was, he was tired of everything. With James gone he might just as well die in this   
  
terrible place, It didn't matter to him. "That's what I'm trying to help you do, to understand this place." The girl said,   
  
sitting on the gurney facing away from him. "I don't need any help from a blind girl, thanks." Noah spit out harshly,   
  
glaring up at her. Curiosity kept his gaze there, as he wondered why she always did that. "I'm sorry, that was very rude."   
  
he apologized, crossing his arms in front of him and tilting his head to the side. The girl said nothing, so Noah kept talking.  
  
"What's your name?" He asked her, putting the gun on the floor between his feet as a truce. "Estelle.." She said eagerly, as if she'd  
  
been waiting for him to ask that. Noah nodded, pursing his lips. "That's a pretty name.." He complimented honestly.   
  
"Stop it." The girl said, cutting him to the quick. "I'm sorry.." Noah apologized again, raising an eyebrow in surprise.   
  
"It's not your fault I'm ugly." The girl replied smartly, her head moving slowly from the left to the right as if she were seeing   
  
something he couldn't and watching it move. "What did you mean, about not seeing with your eyes in this town?"   
  
Noah questioned, genuinely interested. Estelle didn't act like someone who couldn't see anything, that was for damn sure.   
  
Normally he wouldn't have even entertained such a notion, but then normally he wouldn't buy into any of the things he'd   
  
been experiencing since he'd hit the town border. As if he'd just had the greatest idea ever, Noah fished the map out of his pocket  
  
along with the marker. Estelle heard the rustle of paper and perked her head up, standing and walking over to him with graceful ease.   
  
Noah made a clicking sound with his tongue, plotting out where he ought to go next. The police station still seemed his best bet,   
  
and he circled it on the map. "You won't find him there." Estelle pointed out, making Noah jump a little. Now she was behind him and   
  
looking over his shoulder. Looking over his shoulder, Noah couldn't shake the irony of that phrase being applied to someone like Estelle.   
  
"How did you know I was looking for someone?" Noah inquired, suspicious of her all over again. As he bent down to grip the gun, her  
  
delicate fingers slipped the marker and map from his hand. "No one comes to this town unless they're looking for someone." Estelle answered,   
  
smiling childishly as she drew on his map with the marker. "I think you should give those back to me." Noah insisted, raising his voice but not the   
  
gun. She was such a mysterious person, how did she know all this? Was the town really speaking to her somehow? "James is there." Estelle   
  
put forth as a reply, handing Noah the map and placing the marker in his breast pocket. She knew he had one? Even more unsettling was   
  
the sketch of a school she had drawn on the map. "But you're blind.." Noah said dumbly, staring at her in wonderment.   
  
The cute little smile returned to Estelle's face, both warm and playful. "You don't listen very well Noah." She chided, tracing her finger  
  
down from his breast pocket and tapping his chest gently. "You have to open this, to find the way out." Noah took a stood up, stepping back and   
  
feeling a little scared. "No good has ever come from me doing that." Noah shot back, turning away from her. "Did you see James? Are you sure  
  
that's where he went?" He asked Estelle, examining the map. She'd drawn the school down in a blank southeast corner. "Yes I'm sure."   
  
She said sadly, taking a few steps after Noah. "He got lost, they always get lost.." Her words held a sort of crypitc eerieness, and Noah   
  
couldn't resist. "They? Who are all these others you keep mentioning?" He asked, turning back to Estelle. "Other people? Like me?"   
  
Estelle shook her head, looking at the floor. "Not like you Noah, none of them were like you. That's why they got lost."   
  
Noah gave a sigh, frustrated. She had saved him, for sure. He would have died if not for her. And he somehow trusted that she spoke truth,  
  
after all if this place were set in any kind of realistic properties she would not be able to do and know the things she did.   
  
Noah moved towards Estelle, putting his hands on her shoulders and blinking as she quickly turned her face away.   
  
"Ok Estelle what's going on, can you tell me?" He pleaded, softening his voice so she wouldn't be frightened.   
  
"Please?" He added, as she shyly turned to him. "How can you do that?" She hissed at him, sounding angry.   
  
"How can I do what?" Noah asked back, utterly confused by her. Estelle backed away from his touch, retreating  
  
to her spot near the wall. "You ask me to help you see, you want to understand what happenes here..." She said spitefully,   
  
as Noah followed her over to the wall. "Well I need to know, if you can tell me. I think it would help me figure all this out."   
  
He explained, not knowing what else to say. "But you do see, me. You look at me like that even though I'm...Just who are you anyway?!"   
  
She screeched at him, waving a hand warning him to stay back. "I thought you already knew?" Noah reminded her, scratching his head.   
  
Something was wrong, suddenly she seemed just as confused as he was. "Look. Estelle.." He started, making sure to keep his voice soft  
  
and unthreatening. "Don't talk to me! Just shut up you liar!" She snapped at him, pressing herself against the wall.   
  
Noah rolled his eyes, giving up on trying to get her talking about it. He went to the medical cabinet, opening it and filling every pocket he had   
  
with supplies. "What are you doing?" Estelle asked from her corner, running her fingers along the wall. "Thank you for showing me where the school   
  
is Estelle, I think I'll be able to make it there ok." Noah answered, not really meaning to leave. "You're really going?" She said in disbelief, sounding   
  
afraid. "I have to, James is my best friend." Noah confirmed, finding the small bottle he'd picked up in the gas station hiding in his back pocket.  
  
"Wonder if this stuff is any good..." He pondered, twisting off the cap as he sat in the chair. Whatever Estelle had given him for the pain was  
  
wearing off, it wouldn't hurt to get a little nourishment before he set out again. "I'm a prisoner here..." Estelle whispered, sounding as if   
  
she were about to cry. "A prisoner?" Noah repeated, not wanting to disrupt her sudden urge to talk with any stupid questions.   
  
Estelle nodded slowly, rocking herself from side to side again and resting her head against the wall. "When I was a little girl.." Estelle continued,   
  
her voice becoming unusually sad. "My mother found out that I, you know...That I saw, things. She was so afraid, said I had the devil inside  
  
me. I ran away, late at night when she was asleep. I thought it would be ok if I went to church, the priest was always so nice. He used to smile  
  
at me after service was done, and tell me I was beautiful. He said that I was a blessing from God, that I was special...He.."   
  
Estelle sank almost to her knees, stopping as Noah's arm caught her. "Go on.." He said, helping her stand again. She shivered at his touch,   
  
tensing up as his hand held hers. "He was there that night, when I ran away..." Estelle kept going, holding Noah's hand as tight as she dared to,  
  
turning her face to him. "He and some others, old people who'd been here a long long time. They were doing something in the church, something  
  
bad...I caught them, they thought I did, that I would tell...So they put me here.." Noah's gaze softened, as he began to understand why   
  
Estelle had managed to stay here without being attacked. "When he said you were special, the priest I mean. He was right wasn't he?"   
  
Noah ventured, leading Estelle by the hand as they both sat on the gurney. She only nodded, leaning towards him ever so slightly.   
  
"He said, that I could see what was inside other people, see their heart...And it's true, I can. They wanted me because of that. They told me  
  
that I would be spared, that God would forgive me if I did what they told me to do..." Some kind of religious cult? Noah's thought process was already   
  
running away with him, analyzing and drawing conclusions, finding the right pieces to fit together. In theory it could explain a lot of things but,   
  
only if whatever rituals were performed around these parts actually worked. Could that be it? Were the strange glowing marks he'd seen here  
  
and inside that taxi, and all of this craziness part of something a lot worse? "This town, it's not.." Noah started to ask, feeling Estelle's grip tighten  
  
on his hand as she cut him off in midsentence. "It shows you." She said, sounding a little less distrught. As if being able to talk to him   
  
about it somehow helped. "It shows you, what?" Noah asked, waiting for Estelle to finish the sentence. "You." She answered simplly, touching his cheek  
  
with her free hand. "And this." She went on, brushing her hand over his chest. "It shows you, you?" Noah recited, realizing he'd misunderstood her.   
  
Estelle nodded, resting her head lightly against Noah's chest. "And...this?" Noah questioned, taking their intertwined hands and placing it over her heart.  
  
Her breasts were small, and in the surrealness of surviving battles with gruesome creatures only to talk philosophy with a cryptic blind woman he'd simply forgotten   
  
she actually was a woman. Estelle shrieked, hurting Noah's ears almost as much as the earlier sirens. She let go of his hand, slapping him directly  
  
across his cheek as she huddled herself to the edge of the gurney. Noah shot up, embarassed as he rubbed the mark on his face. It was still a damn sight  
  
better than getting shot again, he reasoned. "I'm sorry Estelle, I didn't mean.." Noah had no words to explain the mistake, he was beginning to understand   
  
his situation a little though. "Estelle.." Noah approached her again, gently this time. He took her hand and placed it his his, leaving his palm open  
  
and placing his other hand on top of hers, trying to impart that he hadn't meant to touch her that way. "Why do you think I'm pretty?" She asked   
  
abruptly, bringing her head up and looking straight at him even through closed eyes. Noah was taken off guard by that, not knowing what she meant.   
  
"No one ever thinks that, they want me to help them. They're always scared and want to get out, to find their important person they lost. They get angry   
  
because they don't understand, they think I'm crazy and, they leave me here..." Noah smiled just a bit, finding her incerdibly endearing.   
  
"Estelle, this place.." Noah began, making a big squarish gesture with his hands even though she couldn't see. "I think this whole place, is crazy.   
  
You.." He said, making sure to place his finger well above her chest as he pointed to her. " Are not crazy, ok?" He was using sign   
  
language to communicate with a blind girl who could find his pockets in the dark better than he could, it was all so hysterical in the creepiest  
  
of ways. Estelle let her smile come back, tilting her head as she closed her hand around his once more. "You'll go away Noah, I know you will."   
  
She said sadly, looking down at her legs. "You're different, you can see. Maybe not all at once but you can." Noah returned her smile, feeling   
  
strange. Smiling was something he never did, unless James managed to make him laugh. His whole life he'd remained shut off from virtually  
  
everyone, finding it too painful to try and reach out to another person. And now, in this place that seemed to bare men's very souls to them   
  
he had connected with someone without really even meaning to. "Why do you think they put me here, stupid?!" Estelle burst out at him again,   
  
still holding his hand tightly. "I'm a part of it, part of all this! They find me and I try to help and they go away and get lost and I can never go anywhere  
  
but here! Why aren't you going too? Why did you come here? Why do you...Think that I am pretty..." Estelle lowered her head, standing up as she let  
  
Noah's hand go. "Why do you keep asking me that?" Noah returned, raising his voice in annoyance. "I saw what you felt Noah, you can't hide it. Not from me,   
  
mother never could either, I could feel when she thought I was bad, evil.." Noah's eyes widened, as it dawned on him what Estelle was really asking him.   
  
When he'd first seen her, it had caused shivering all along his body. Her eyes were stitched along the bottom, and she couldn't easily say what she really   
  
meant to, but Noah had indeed found her quite beautiful when she'd first turned to him. Estelle must have felt that, the way she felt everything he had   
  
been feeling. And it confused her, but why? Had she really been thought of as ugly for so long that now even she believed it? Noah wasn't sure how much   
  
longer he could stand the immense contradictions of this place. Estelle had a gift, she saw people from the inside out. And even knowing what others   
  
truly felt, she was still powerless to look inside her own heart the same way and find that it wasn't true. "Estelle, when you look around this place,   
  
what can you see?" Noah asked her, taking a swig of the health drink at last. It wasn't terribly hard to get down, and had a sweet berry taste that   
  
was rather pleasant. "See?" Estelle asked, touching her chest. "That's right." Noah nodded, glad that they were understanding each other better now.   
  
She looked around a bit, placing her hands on the wall and feeling along it as if it were alive to her. "Can you see a way out of here?" Noah inquired,   
  
drinking more and ripping open the package of jerky. Even though he'd hoped it wouldn't come to it he was finally just that hungry.   
  
"I can see it." Estelle answered, moving along the wall, as if it were made of glass and she were looking through it. "Could you show me?"   
  
Noah asked again, struggling to tear a shred of dried beef from the unappetizing mass. "I can draw it, let me see your map again?"   
  
Estelle requested, moving towards him. Noah stood up, meeting her halfway and instead of the map he placed the health drink in her hand.   
  
"You can have that, I already had enough." He offered, choking down a piece of stale salty beef. "Oh...thanks.." Estelle said humbly, a little   
  
bewildered by Noah's gift. She put the bottle cautiously to her mouth and drank a little, licking her lips gingerly. "Not that great huh?" Noah   
  
sympathized, smiling a little as Estelle's reaction to the taste made her mouth cringe slightly. "It's alright." She agreed, drinking a little more.   
  
"Estelle, you said you could never leave here right? Why? All the creepy crawlers running around don't seem to fancy you much."   
  
She looked down, at the floor once again, holding the health drink tightly with both hands. "The first time, anyone ever found me here he got  
  
angry with me. I was being a bother to him, asking him to try and see and he just wouldn't..He told me I was stupid, that I was bad for being able to  
  
see things and he couldn't. So he..." She held a finger to her eyes, touching them gently. "So he did that to your eyes,so you couldn't see them either?"   
  
Noah concluded, frowning. It was a vicious thing to do, especially to a woman...That very instant Noah's own words brought back old memories,  
  
his mother crying out as he pushed her. Walking away from her as she begged him not to. Had he really gotten any better at all since that day?   
  
Wasn't he still sick? So Estelle had never been able to leave, because her gift was useless for seeing things outside of Silent Hill,   
  
she'd obviously never even make it to the next town on her own with her eyes like that.   
  
Noah hadn't believed Estelle when she'd said he was better than the others she'd met.  
  
Not anymore he wagered, than she'd believe him if he'd have told her she was beautiful. But he hadn't said that, she'd seen it inside him somewhere.   
  
She didn't have the luxary of not believing, which was Noah was sure why she had gotten so angry. He wanted to believe it though, that he'd come away   
  
from being so volatile and unfeeling.   
  
He wanted to believe that it had always been in him, and James had only released it. But then, Noah wanted to believe many things. Very few of them  
  
would ever become truth. Even if that were the case, knowing her as he did now he couldn't just leave Estelle here. And she could see, perhaps better than   
  
he could. He wouldn't have to lead her by the hand like some trashy blonde bimbo, or anything.   
  
"So, you ready to help me get out of here then?" Noah asked stoutly,   
  
picking up the gun. Estelle's mouth opened slightly, although she was speechless. Noah took her hand, grabbing the pocket flashlight with the other.   
  
"We'll have to be each other's eyes for a bit ok?" He said, putting the flashlight in her hand. She only nodded, her smile speaking her happiness for her. 


	6. VI Otherworld

SILENT HILL- OTHERWORLD  
  
Noah and Estelle slowly continued down the stairwell to the second floor, since the elevator had decided to stop working.   
  
He let her lead the way, walking behind and shining the flashlight for her. She stopped suddenly, and Noah barely   
  
managed to keep from running into her. "Do you see something?" He asked gently, shining the flashlight back and forth  
  
across the walls. "Point it up here." Estelle answered, looking up at the edge where the walls met the ceiling.   
  
Noah did so, stepping back to give her more light. "The numbers here, they're strange." Estelle told him, as if he could   
  
come over and look too. Where she was looking Noah saw only the wall, none of the numbers Estelle was talking about.   
  
"What are they written in?" He asked, scratching his head. "Blood." Estelle replied, standing on her toes to get a better look.   
  
She really saw something there, Noah was impressed. It was beyond him why anyone would just leave her there in that room,  
  
when she could navigate the cockamamie innerworkings of Silent Hill as if it were second nature.   
  
"Blood huh, why am I not surprsied.." Noah joked, a little put off by Estelle's discovery. At least he had the option to not see it, for now anway.   
  
Sooner or later he'd have to find a way to ask Estelle if she could give me a few lessons or something, he'd feel better if they could   
  
both see trouble coming. "Is that all that's weird about the numbers? That they're in blood?" Noah asked, moving closer to Estelle   
  
and studying the blank space she seemed so interested in. He felt a litle weird making her do all the work with things like this.   
  
"Roman numerals." Estelle added, as she hopped up at the ceiling. She looked like she wanted to get closer, or she couldn't   
  
quite make something out. "Hang on.." Noah offered, putting the flashlight on the stairs and setting it so that the beam still shone  
  
fairly close to where Estelle had been looking. She squeaked in surprise, as Noah picked her up and set her on his shoulders.   
  
"is that better?" Noah asked, receiving a light bat on the head as a reply. "Don't ever do that again without my permission."   
  
She warned, placing her hand between the ceiling and wall. He still couldn't see anything there, but it almost looked as if there  
  
was a kind of haze or mirage. Like a patch of melting air was concealing what Estelle could easily see. "Ok, get me down."   
  
Estelle ordered, putting both hands on the top of Noah's head as he bent down and let her off on the stairs.   
  
He'd also giver her his map and marker, since it was all but useless to his untrained eyes. "Your eyes aren't what's out of practice."   
  
Estelle reminded him for the tenth time, raising one eyebrow as she drew on their map. It was amazing, Noah thought.   
  
He could almost see her looking over the map at him with one eye, giving an annoyed and yet playful gaze that he knew she must have had.   
  
He couldn't explain how he knew, but he was sure of it. "It's this that needs exercise." She added, her voice expressing amusement as she   
  
quickly drew a heart on his shirt, tapping the center with the marker. Noah looked down at it, grinning as he retrieved the flashlight.   
  
She was fun, actually fun to be around. People were always so predictable in Noah's experience, it was funny that he couldn't figure   
  
this girl out even as she guessed his every move. The town really was showing him his true self, he supossed.   
  
"Ok, so what do we have here? Roman numerals right?" Noah questioned, as he and Estelle regarded the map. She'd drawn four of them,   
  
one two three and nine. He thought about what that could mean, as Estelle continued down the stairs. "Come on Noah,I need light." She   
  
called, sounding a good deal less irritable than when he'd picked her up. "No touching, definetely no touching." He muttered to himself,   
  
following behind her. The door to the second floor was thankfully unlocked, and opened with a bit of muscle from Noah.   
  
The hinges were badly rusted, but at least they had made it out of the claustrophobic nightmare of a stairwell.   
  
Now they were in what looked like another hallway, with big double doors  
  
over to the right. To the left were more doors, and a stopoff for the now broken elevator. "Come on, this way." Estelle guided,   
  
walking away from the double doors and over to a door with a worn out metal plate attached that read 'STORAGE'. She turned the doorknob,   
  
cautiously walking into the small room with Noah close behind her. "I knew there'd be some left." Estelle said gladly, taking a first aid kit  
  
and some health drinks from the shelving on the walls. Noah panned around with the flashlight, stopping as he found a large black chest   
  
sitting on a table. He smirked, walking over to it and looking it over. The top lid had three colored jewels set into it, red blue and green.   
  
Lined after each one were three buttons, and Noah's mind recalled the numbers Estelle had found. The buttons were all numbered,   
  
one through three in each row. "Hmm..." Noah said, messing with the numbers in his head. Estelle turned towards him, wondering   
  
what he had found. "One plus one is two, one plus two is three, one plus three is five.." Noah figured, as Estelle came up behind him.   
  
"Two and three and five, make nine, being the last number!" Noah shouted proudly, pushing the second, third and fifth buttons.   
  
"Noah don't touch that! Idiot!" Estelle screamed, pulling him away from the chest. "It's ok I got!" Noah responded, taking her hand.   
  
"It was the numbers you found Estelle, they were the answer. Just took a little math and.." Noah shut his mouth, as the walls   
  
commenced bleeding again. The radio in his pocket went nuts, giving off immense static as a loud groaning filled the room.   
  
"Damnit! Noah, I don't want to say you fucked up...." Estelle lectured, slapping his arm as she saw the monsters coming.   
  
They were still far off, on the other side of the building but she could already see them. And it wouldn't take them very long to   
  
spot two people walking around with a flashlight. "I...I fucked up..." Noah agreed, as the chest began to shake and rattle all by itself.   
  
Everything looked as if it were made out of blood-stained chain link now, with parts of the walls and ceiling pulsating like organs.   
  
The chest fell off of it's perch on the table, opening as it hit the floor. A pickax clanged out from inside, as Noah carefully  
  
picked it up. It had nice balance, and a lot of weight for it's size. Estelle was scared, clinging gently to his side as he took the gun   
  
tucked in the back of his pants and gave it to her. "Can you handle one of these? Noah asked her, realizing what a dumb question that was.   
  
She had after all been the one that had fixed its feed jam earlier. He could do more damage with the pickax though,   
  
and with her ability to see well it only made sense for Estelle to have the longer ranged weapon.   
  
She could pick off things from much further away, possibly buying them valuable seconds if nothing else.   
  
"What the hell, just happened to this place.." Noah blurted out, gripping the pickax tightly in one hand  
  
as his other shone the flashlight around the newly improved storage room. "You see it now?" Estelle replied,   
  
stepping away from him and holding the gun purposefully.   
  
"This is the truth, of you, and me, and this town. The otherworld." 


	7. VII Wilted

SILENT HILL- Wilted  
  
"So what exactly does this mean?" Noah asked cluelessly, as Estelle walked nervously ahead of him. The hallway   
  
wasn't even a hallway anymore, it fact it closely ressembled a gigantic heart valve pumping hard to deliver blood.   
  
It literally swam through cracks in the walls, converging at large pulsating sacs on the ceilng or gurneys   
  
half stuck in the walls just like the car he'd seen. "What, you mean the otherworld?" Estelle replied, walking faster  
  
as she took quick glances behind her. "Yeah." Noah agreed, shining the flashlight to illuminate the path ahead of them.   
  
"I mean those craven nurses were after me before any of this happened, and I killed some 'thing' right out in the parking lot."   
  
Estelle sighed irritably, shaking her head. "You don't yet understand what this place is, do you. The otherworld suddenly   
  
appearing like this is actually good, it means the town is trying harder to keep you here." Noah raised his eyebrows,   
  
unable to look away from his gruesome surroundings. "You mean it's pulling out all the stops because we're closer to getting out?"  
  
Estelle nodded, stopping at a small door close to the end of the hallway. "That's right, it's going to keep changing however it needs   
  
to in order to keep you from escaping." Estelle explained, opening the door as Noah shined the flashlight into the next room.   
  
"You mean 'us' right?" Noah corrected, looking over Estelle's shoulder as they left the hallway. "Us?" Estelle said cynically.  
  
"Yeah, we're getting out of here. Both of us." Noah assured her, putting a hand on her arm. "You're too close." Estelle warned,   
  
quickly moving away from him. The room was filled with corpses, not all of them whole either. They were piled up on either side  
  
of him and Estelle, blocking any doors that might have led elsewhere. "Looks like a dead end." Noah stated, spotting a tall   
  
soda machine at the far end of the room. He was hesitant to investigate, it was right below the window where a corpse hung.   
  
It vibrated and shook wildly, apparentely held in place by all the barbed wire wrapped around it. "Would I lead you to a dead end?"   
  
Estelle bitched, walking over to the soda machine as if the animated cadaver didn't bother her at all. "Well you sure hate me enough   
  
to do it, I guess." Noah sulked under his breath, keeping his distance as he followed her. "You really have to stop trying to see like  
  
you normally would around here, Noah." Estelle lectured, tilting her head as she regarded the large vending machine.   
  
"So then you do like me right?" Noah joked, wishing he hadn't as Estelle let out another irritated sigh. "Got any money?" Estelle asked,   
  
turning to him. Noah stuck his hand into the pockets of his jeans, coming up with five quarters. He held them out to Estelle,   
  
who moved behind him and pushed him gently towards the vending machine. "Oh come on..." Noah griped,   
  
stepping up to the machine and dropping a quarter into the coin slot. It clinked around inside the machine, making a faint noise   
  
as it came to rest somewhere. Nothing happened.   
  
"Ok.." Noah said, putting in another quarter. Still nothing. Three quarters later, Noah was out of change with nothing to show for it.   
  
He noticed there was a slot for bills also, and recalled the money he'd found in the gas station. They were pretty wrinkled by now,   
  
Noah had to flatten them against the soda machine as best he could. The first dollar bill had no effect on anything, as Noah looked   
  
back at Estelle who seemd to be anxiously waiting for something to happen. The other bills, two more ones a five and a ten, produced  
  
no results. "Ahhhhhhh!" Noah growled, kicking the machine angrily. "Don't be dumb, They'll hear!" Estelle chided him, slapping his   
  
bandaged shoulder. Noah hissed as pain shot all through him, realizing she was right yet wishing she'd picked a less sensitive target.   
  
Noah thought for a second, trying to fight what his eyes saw and use what he knew about where they were. It could've essentially   
  
been considered a mirror town of sorts, reflecting everything about you back in your face a hundred and one different ways.   
  
Now if Estelle was right, and everything around them was somehow borne from his own soul then the answer would have to do with   
  
some undesireable part of him. Noah had an idea, turning to Estelle who was already trying to refuse whatever he might ask of her.   
  
"Estelle, do you think I'm a selfish man?" He inquired, looking solemnly at her eyes as the question took her by surprise.   
  
"I..I don't...." Estelle answered, bewildered at the suddeness of Noah's words. He nodded, quickly turning back to the machine.   
  
She would know if he really were or not, and though Noah had always thought himself a selfish person perhaps that was an illusion.   
  
And perhaps that was the other part of this town's power, showing you not only yourself but seperating the parts that are you from the  
  
parts you have made to make being you easier and laying them all out for you. Noah took out his wallet, thumbing through it  
  
until he found a fifty. It was the biggest single bill he had on him. "Less is more..." Noah mused, biting the tip of his thumb just enough   
  
to bleed. Estelle gasped, watching him brush his thumb along the bill to make a red streak down the middle of it. Noah slipped   
  
the fifty into the machine, holding his breath and hoping his idea was correct. There came a rattle, as if a can had been dislodged  
  
inside the soda machine. Noah smiled just a bit, as Estelle came up beside his good arm and gave it a pat. "You're getting there." She   
  
complimented, watching with him as the can fell down to the opening at the bottom. Noah saw it wasn't really a can at all, and picked it   
  
up with a blank expresion on his face. It was a comendable work of origami, a piece of paper folded and creased to the exact shape of a soda can.  
  
"Not with my eyes, right?" Noah recited, gazing over at Estelle knowingly. She nodded, her head titled slightly to the side as she let that   
  
beautiful smile of hers shine. "Careful there, you're making the flashlight jealous." Noah quiped, unfolding the paper can.   
  
HIs words promptly made the smile leave Estelle's face. as she turned sideways and watched him from over her shoulder.  
  
Noah shook his head, wondering what he was doing so wrong with her. A compliment was just that, he wasn't proposing or anything.  
  
What was with her anyway? Noah frowned in disappointment, as the unfolded paper had nothing but two small streaks of blood on it.  
  
"So Estelle, why did you think I was stupid for opening that chest if the otherworld means we're progressing?" Noah came right out   
  
with it, knowing she could practically read his thoughts anyway. There was no point in omission anymore.   
  
"Because you should never, ever touch anything in this place without thinking first." Estelle shot back, sounding angry again.   
  
"Right.." Noah nodded, not wanting to start an argument. He 'had' thought about it, and it had made sense to him. It seemed  
  
to Noah that Estelle was giving him a lot of shit he didn't necesarily deserve, but as long as she'd been trapped here he supposed   
  
her social skills had faded quite a bit. It wasn't her fault, they were both in a situation they'd rather not be and it was just too bad.   
  
The sooner he could smarten up about the town's weird ways and get them out of here, the better he and Estelle would get along.   
  
Thinking about his encounter with the chest made him think of something else, the numbers Estelle had discovered. If Noah had  
  
really messed up all that bad back there, he would've gotten a lot worse from Estelle he was sure of that. That the otherworld was  
  
necesary to find a way out of here meant that this room Estelle had led them to was the right place to be. Something was here, be it a key   
  
to solving a riddle or a riddle to be solved. Whatever the next step was, it was in this room. "You're beginning to see. "Estelle encouraged,  
  
her voice was soft and if Noah wasn't mistaken, a little proud of him. "Let's hope." Noah answered her, looking at the streaks of blood on the   
  
paper he held. So he had proven, in an abstract and ludicrous way that he was not the selfish man he saw himself to be. An illusion   
  
torn away, sugessting a reevaluation of the past. "Estelle, those numbers you found.." Noah began, as Estelle retrieved the map from   
  
her pocket and handed it to him. He took it in one hand, pairing the scrap of paper next to it. It was a long shot, but he could see the   
  
streaks of blood forming rudimentary numbers when combined with the roman numerals. The paper was fairly transparent, and as  
  
he placed it over the part of his map the numbers were written on he saw that he was indeed right. The first streak of blood was positioned  
  
over the first three, suggesting that they were actually one number, seven. The second streak formed a vertical line between the three and nine,   
  
sugessting the first number was five and the last two lines when added to the streak of blood were the number three. That left only the X at the  
  
end of the roman numeral nine. "X marks the spot.." Noah said softly, smiling a little as it clicked into his head what came next.   
  
Estelle stood in place, watching Noah as he hit the coin return button on the soda machine. As he'd thought, the machine prompty gave him back   
  
his five quarters. Only they had somehow been marred while inside the machine, each one bearing a series of lines depicting a different number.   
  
He picked out one with a five marked into it's back, and another with a three. He put those two coins back into the machine, his mind making his   
  
hands move before he could even think about doing it. A loud click resounded, and a horrible gutteral scream as if someone were being tortured.   
  
Noah jumped back in shock, handing the map back to Estelle as he gripped the pickax tightly. "You keep it." Estelle refused, putting the map into   
  
his back pocket as she stepped behind him. The soda machine's front suddenly swung open, a cadaver falling out and to Noah's feet. Beyond it,   
  
somehow a door was inside the vending machine. Noah cocked an eyebrow, stepping carefully over the corpse as he took hold of the doorknob.   
  
"You can take the gun too.." Estelle prodded, holding it out to him. Noah gave her a sour look, his eyes becoming steely and cold. "I told you  
  
'we' are getting out of here. Both of us." Noah's voice boomed with a determination that seemed to shake Estelle somehow, as she stepped back  
  
away from him. Her hands held the betretta as if it were precious, her blind eyes seeming to meet his as she bit her quivering lower lip.   
  
"It's not my fight, Noah." She whispered, sounding as if she might cry. Noah let go of the door, walking after Estelle as she continued to back away.   
  
"I'm falling in love with you..." He let the words come freely, she would know he was being truthful no matter what. The wailing, god awful sirens   
  
began to sound again, as Estelle's form blurred and convulsed before Noah's eyes. His radio spat white noise laden with static as the entire room   
  
seemed to change around him. Not quite drowned out by the firece sirens, Noah distinctly heard Estelle's reply. "Me too..." Her words struck him,   
  
as he became so dizzy he had to sit down. The room was completely empty now, and Noah saw he was sitting on a floor of bleeding tissue.   
  
"Oh Jesus!" He yelped, springing to his feet. The entire floor seemd to move, the blood flowing to a small window no more than a foot off the floor.   
  
Shining the flashlight ahead of him, Noah went to it. It was a bit tricky to fit the pickax and his body out at the same time, but he managed.   
  
Below him was nothing, utter darkness. The metal planking of the catwalk seemed suspended in midair by magic, tilting a little as Noah walked on it.   
  
He could of sworn he heard whispers, and whirled around with the pickax held ready. The planking, was gone. The few feet he'd walked over   
  
just a moment ago had vanished into thin air. "Christ, I hate this place.." Noah whispered, turning around and continuing forward.   
  
He kept looking back from time to time, confirming that with every step he took the catwalk behind him vanished.   
  
Moaning rose up from the void, raising the hairs on Noah's arms as he stopped dead in his tracks. There was something coming,   
  
slowly dragging itself closer to him. It almost looked as if it were a woman, a fat naked woman with sizeable breasts. It was in such a position   
  
that it lay on it's back, with legs straight out and folded up so that the kness were touching the bridge of it's nose. It moaned louder as it   
  
approached, Noah was so scared he couldn't even turn the flashlight away to spare his eyes from the abberant creature. It dragged it's   
  
body along with it's hands, as a single eye suddenly opened from between it's buttocks. It blinked rapidly, now almost close enough to touch.   
  
If that thing he'd fought with outside the hospital was some sort of representaion of him as he'd come to suspect since he'd met Estelle,  
  
then the disgusting beast he was now faced with was undoubtedly his stepmother. 


	8. VIII The Man Wakes

SILENT HILL- The Man Wakes  
  
Noah was still frozen in place by the mental overload he was being subjected to. The grotesque thing  
  
was at his feet, he had to hit it first, he knew he had to. But his muscles wouldn't listen to him, and a voice  
  
inside his head began barking orders. It told him to fight, it told him he'd spent too long with Estelle and her   
  
foolish ways. It said that to live life one needed to be strong, and cold, so that nothing could get to him no matter  
  
how bad it was. Get to him and make him feel, as he was now. Terrified in fact, he couldn't even turn his head  
  
away from it. That's what you get, the voice in his head reasoned. It sounded a lot like James, betrayed   
  
and disappointed that Noah had gone against the way they'd both decided to live long ago. Noah, you should have   
  
known better. James taunted, as the horrible creature stopped in front of him. It's body quivered all over,   
  
as the moaning grew high pitched and ominous. Better than to trust, better than to think of others so quickly.   
  
You should have known better than to believe, Noah. James' words caued turmoil in Noah's heart, as he   
  
desperately tried to break from the fear that held him still. This must have been exactly what Estelle had warned of.  
  
His own mind was defeating him, screwing him up so badly that he couldn't even defend himself. Had it been wrong?  
  
Should he have just left her there? Would she really have done the same for him if their positions were reversed?  
  
The disturbingly familiar creautre suddenly came at him, it's legs swinging out and kicking Noah straight in the face.   
  
He fell over hard, his head hitting nothing as he looked down at the abyss below. There was barely enough of the   
  
catwalk left now for he and the monster to share, one would soon have to go...Too many questions, James' voice   
  
yammered on. Too many feelings you can't control, you say you don't want to live like that but...Noah got up   
  
as quickly as he could, the paralysis broken by the hard blow. Noah's nose was bleeding, and he felt that his jaw  
  
was most likely broken. The goddamned mutation kicked like a mule on steroids. But if you really want to live, you have to.   
  
James' voice insisted, as the unsavory fiend caught Noah around the neck with it's legs. It was choking him, the oxygen  
  
rapidly fleeing his lungs. So the only real question Noah, is do you really want to live at all? James' voice was a tormenter,   
  
bringing every drop of emotion out of Noah all at once. What a horrible place this was, Noah thought. And he had still   
  
come here willingly, just like James. I know you want to die Noah, deep down you know it too. James just wouldn't shut   
  
up, as if he were trying to confuse Noah even further instead of help him. Because really, I did too. James confessed  
  
inside Noah's head. It was true, he had perhaps come here meaning to get James back or die trying. Or perhaps, to   
  
simple die with James, and not to be left behind in the crule world without him. That was the real truth of it, Noah   
  
realized. But everything was so strange now, strange and new and full of hope. He didn't know Estelle, at all really.   
  
He'dwanted to and never had the chance. If he died now he never would, but perhaps that was better.   
  
She would only hurt him, leave him, make him wish he'd never been born just like every other person he'd ever met.   
  
James was the exception, not Estelle. Only James saw things his way, his way....The creature brought Noah's body down   
  
with fierce power, slamming his head against the metal walkway and adding even more blood to it. It's one large eye sunk deep  
  
into the vagina glared at him. It was going to kill him, Noah knew that. "Not my way.." Noah whispered, as the last four months  
  
flew through Noah's mind in a flurry. He had rigged their first meeting intentionally, fascinated by James outlook on life.  
  
But as they'd become friends it was James' way of living, not his own that he'd found. He didn't want it, not the way he was   
  
before or the way James had made him. He didn't want any of it. He wanted only to laugh and smile, and not feel like a  
  
weakened man for doing so. He wanted to get Estelle the hell out of here, and show her a world she'd never seen before.   
  
Where things weren't ugly the way she saw, only the way he did. He had hope, foolish pointless laughable hope that   
  
Estelle could teach him that way of seeing, that way of being. That was what he wanted, not death. Only peace.   
  
Death is the only peace, this is the only way. James' voice faded out, as a long stiletto made of bone protruded  
  
from the creature's asshole. "I can't live your way anymore, James." Noah spoke out loud, as the sharpened bone   
  
thrust towards his torso. He shouted loud eboug hto hurt his own ears, grabbing the monster's legs with both hands and   
  
twisting himself around. The wickedly long stiletto ripped his shirt near the waist, cutting shallow along his side.   
  
A rage of untold caliber surged through Noah, as his life came sharply into focus in that instant. James was wrong, as was he.  
  
And Estelle had been right. The only way to truly live, was to feel, and to see, and to let that path lead you where it may.   
  
Noah stood up, his legs almost breaking as he pulled the putrid giant with him. He held it's legs spread, his biceps strained   
  
as the creature fought back mightily. He brought his foot stomping down on it, his heel squarely mashing that damned eye   
  
hard enough so that it popped. Puss and fluid sprayed evereywhere, yet it could have been a warm summer rain for all   
  
Noah cared. The stiletto thrust towrds his head this time, as Noah released the monster and dove for his pickax. It had fallen  
  
away from him. Hanging precariously on the edge of the catwalk. With each blow exchanged it rattled and shook closer to   
  
falling away from him, his only weapon. The monster roared madly, charging at him as the stiletto actually doubled in length.  
  
It stuck clean through Noah's leg at the ankle, as he fell forward with a scream. Too little too late, the monster would have it's  
  
fill of him. Noah hated that so much, meeting his demise at something so truthfully portraying his wretched stepmother.   
  
She would be the death of him, even though he'd escaped her. Even after the years had rid him of her memory.   
  
He landed hard, breaking at least one of his ribs. His hand caught the pickax, as the monster charged over him.   
  
Sweet Jesus, Noah thought. The entire face of it's back was a mouth. He somehow found strength enough to swing the   
  
pickax up into it, sticking the horrible thing through the midst of it's body. He pushed with every thing he had, forcing his   
  
body to curl up as much as it hurt. The monster was flipped head over heels, hanging off the catwalk with the pickax   
  
held in it's mouth. "You never even knew I loved you, you silly cunt." Noah said through tears, kicking the last unsightly   
  
reminder of her to it's doom. It shrieked horribly, as it fell down. So far, as if in slow motion, until it vanished from sight.   
  
Noah lay there on the catwalk, bleeding and sobbing his heart's sorrow out of him as the sirens came again. Mixing with   
  
his screams and the fading moans of the creature they formed a nightmarish symphony, as the world once again   
  
crumbled away rfom Noah. When he awoke, the double doors of the hospital greeted him. He law on the front steps,   
  
picking his aching body up and making it move by sheer willl alone. The truth of him uncovered, he could only think of   
  
Estelle. The doors were locked, refusing to give way even when he took the pickax to them. He stummbled, his leg   
  
shouting with him as he ranted like a loon. Estelle was trapped inside that horrible place once again, with no hope of him   
  
coming to get her. He couldn't take it, he wished he hadn't won. Almost in harmony with that very thought, a ladder   
  
appeared before him right there on the sidewalk. Without a moment's hesitation he took a health drink from his back pocket,   
  
cutting his fingers on the shards of glass from the other bottles which had broked in the struggle. He twitsed the cap   
  
off and hurled it defiantly at the hospital, chuging the sweet berry juice down and letting the empty bottle drop as he began   
  
to climb. He would find her and set her free, he would do it or be put to death trying. 


	9. IX Jacob's Ladder

SILENT HILL-Jacob's Ladder  
  
As Noah climbed higher and higher, feeling no shakiness at all in the ladder even though nothing held it in place he saw   
  
that the ground was no longer visible. God, he hurt. His jaw felt swollen and uhinged, his ankle still bleeding badly.   
  
His side ached and the cuts on his fingers opened more with every rung of the ladder he ascended. He may have gone insane,   
  
and it didn't really matter now anyways. Sanity seeemed irrelevant here, all that mattered was knowing one's self and   
  
being unafraid of things that appeared almost suicidal at times. Noah climbed higher and higher, the pickax slapping against  
  
his butt as the arched blade hung from his belt. He'd made good and sure it was secure before he'd started up the ladder,   
  
for God only knew what was coming next. As he climbed, Noah observed the disturbing space around him as it shifted and   
  
changed. The ladder was slowly morphing itself into chain link, blood dripping from the sides and making the rungs   
  
just slippery enough so that losing his grip became an issue. Noah heard a dull crunch, stopping for a second and   
  
looking down. Far below, the beginnings of the ladder had rolled up onto itself. Noah let himself rest, feeling so worn   
  
that he was certain he'd fall off if he didn't reach the top soon. Another crunch showed Noah he didn't have the time to   
  
be resting, as the ladder rolled up on itself another foot or so. And then again. He resumed the climb, moving faster  
  
as the crunches came more frequently and closer together. Soon the ladder was practically chasing him, rolling up   
  
continuously like a steamroller meaning to flatten him. He was already going as fast as he possibly could, but  
  
the ladder was still coming faster. He was losing the race, scaling the ladder and searching the sky above him for some   
  
kind of escape. At last he saw it, up ahead the ladder curved to a stop. He reached it as the rolled up metal of the ladder   
  
grazed his feet, the metal forming grisly spikes around it's exterior as Noah flipped himself over the top. "Yahhhh!" he shouted,   
  
his heart skipping a beat as the spiked wheel of doom rolled up to the very top of the ladder and came to a halt.   
  
Noah stood tiredly, watching the wheel closely to make sure it wasn't going to move anymore. He now stood on a small squarish  
  
platform that, like the ladder had no support at all and simply hung securely in midair. "What is this now.." Noah groaned,  
  
as he regarded a tall and almost comical stuffed bunny holding a long pipe. It leaned on it as if it were Babe Ruth prouldy watching a   
  
home run soar, and blood that looked fresh surrounded it's mouth. There was much more blood dried down the front of it,   
  
and though Noah was fairly sure it wasn't alive it's eyes seemed to watch him with the piercing gaze of an old porcelin doll.   
  
In front of the rabbit there was a small box, remeniscant of a drive thru restaurant. A sign beside the box had 'PLACE YOUR ORDER'  
  
scrawled in what Noah by now just assumed was probably blood. "HA! This is ridiculous!" Noah laughed out loud, stepping up to   
  
the box to inspect it. It really was an intercom for taking drive thru orders, absolutely priceless. "I say, so what's the menu today Robbie?"  
  
Noah joked, laughing again at the big rabbit having such a name sewn right onto it's cartoonish overalls. No sooner had he said it,   
  
then Noah saw a hatch open from the top of the intercom box. A cardboard menu popped out on a spring, framed by thin metal.   
  
Noah put a hand to his head, subduing his laughter as he realized this must be another puzzle of some sort. As he leaned forward and   
  
examined the menu, a voice suddenly crackled from his radio. "Welcome to Robbie-kun's, huu huck! Please choose from today's fine selections!"  
  
The bunny suddenly spoke. Noah almost fell over in disbelief. It was ludicrous to even think about, things like this just weren't ever supossed to happen.   
  
Physics alone suggested...Noah shook his head, nodding acceptingly as he viewed the menu. It was seperated into three rectangular sections lined together.   
  
The one on the right held a picture of Estelle, alarmingly detailed to the point where Noah expected her to turn to him and tilt her head in that   
  
cute way she always did when she looked at him. Underneath her likeness was stenciling which read 'SEEING-EYE DOG-Our famous grilled   
  
weiner with your choice of toppings and a small side of cole slaw- 75.' Noah saw that weiner was crossed out with black marker, replaced   
  
in chicken scratch penmaship with 'winner'. Noah made a face, still unable to get his mind around the unabashed dark humor that seemed   
  
to plague everything he encountered in this town. He didn't like the insulting pun aimed at Estelle, either.   
  
The next section displayed a picture of his long lost friend James Sunderland, again with painstaking and unsettling detail.   
  
The stenciling under his depiction read 'OVERSEXED PIG IN A BLANKET- A deliciously cooked keilbasa sausage bled slowly and rolled up in homemade   
  
sourdough chocked full of spices with your choice of side salad or curly fries-75.' Noah's jaw hung open, as he read it through again. Some twisted   
  
individual seemed to have taken the same black marker and scratched out 'C' in spices, replacing it with a K. "Chocked full of of..Spikes?" Noah   
  
said cluelessly, realizing what that would actually mean. Was James already dead? The last section of the menu, not surprisingly was his own   
  
portrait. An old one that no one could have posibly gotten their hands on, especially no one in a town he'd never been to before.   
  
It was from his 6th birthday, when his father had taken him to the fair. His mother had been too sick to join them, leukemia had been ebbing   
  
the last of her life away by that time. His father had tried to be happy for him that day, taking him on rides and winning the archery contest for him.   
  
But Noah had known even at such a young age that his father was terribly saddened by the imminent death of his wife. The doctors were powerless  
  
to help her, and a week after that day at the fair she had died. In the picture Noah was smiling wide, his pearly white teeth shining as he   
  
sat atop his father's shoudlers. Aside from the hand holding his own, Noah remembered that his father had been completely cut out of that picture.  
  
Shortly after that, Noah's father had been mugged and shot outside a bakery down the street from where they'd lived.  
  
Where was that again? Noah had trouble remembering, as his mind could only recall the horror he'd felt. Seven years old, on his birthday once again  
  
when his father had gotten drunk the night before and forgotten to pick up the cake. Noah had told him that it was alright and that he only wanted to   
  
be with his father and share his birthday with him, but his father always trying to make up for the loss of Noah's mother had gone to fetch the cake.   
  
Noah never saw him again, until the police came to the house, stupid men in blue clothing and shiny badges trying to hide the fact that his father had   
  
been killed. Noah dropped to his knees, his hands covering his face as he started crying again. "Why are you doing this to me!" He shouted out loud,   
  
looking up at the bloody rabbit who seemed to tower over him like a judge. Noah's head went all cotton for a moment, he was losing too much blood.   
  
Yes real matters, he thought. Tend to your wounds before you're too lightlheaded to keep your wits about you. He'd never solve whatever sick riddle   
  
this scene posed if he couldn't think straight. He had left home in a hurry, throwing a simple red collar shirt over his white T-shirt. His black jeans   
  
were stained red by all the blood from his ankle and side, as were his black loafers. The thin black windbreaker he'd grabbed at the last second   
  
was just plain dirty, torn in several places from his escape out the window of the spooky car. He was glad he had it now, as the town held a   
  
disturbing chill to it's air even in the wamest of seasons. He took it off, withdrawing the semi-sharp pocket knife from his jeans.   
  
Taking off his shirt, he cut swatches from it, creating just enough lengths of fabric to tightly bind his ankle and side. Noah felt his jaw tenderly,   
  
hearing a dull click as his hand moved it to the right. As he'd thought, it was dislocated. Noah bore the pain as he felt along the side of his face,   
  
feeling along the bone. Taking in a deep breath, he closed his eyes and quickly drove his knuckles against the faulty jaw. He howled in pain,   
  
falling over into a fetal position as the pain threathened to knock him out cold. It hurt so badly, all over his body he hurt so much. He just wanted  
  
to sleep. The old trick a prison inmate had shown him worked well enough, setting his jaw right again despite that it hurt more now than it had before.  
  
"Owwwwww..." Noah sobbed, resting for a bit as he felt the town of Silent HIll swallowing him up piece by piece. 


	10. X Not My Friend

SILENT HILL-Not My Friend  
  
Noah lay there on the cold metal, wishing it would all go away from him. He didn't think he could take anymore of this. His gaze moved upwards  
  
to rest on that goddamned rabbit again, it's blank and not wholly lifeless eyes staring back at him. Taunting him, daring him to go on   
  
just a little further. A little futher and I'll take your soul, steal it and tuck it into my spiffy hilbilly overalls and skip through this fucking town singing   
  
do wah diddy diddy dum diddy doo. Noah cackled sleepily, as he could picture the rabbit doing just that. Or perhaps, it was daring him to go on  
  
in order to right all the numerous wrongs he'd made. A chance to make it all right, or lose your soul to the fuzzy long eared devil himself.   
  
The true nature of Silent Hill, perhaps. Another chance, winner take all. "I'll take those odds." Noah grumped as if someone had just roused   
  
him from a pleasant nap. He wasn't going to stop here, he wasn't going to give up. He wasn't going to lose to a gigantic blood soaked   
  
pipe wielding mascot or to this hellish town. "I'm Noah Woodens, you sonuvabitch." Noah spat out to the bunny in a subdued voice,   
  
drunk with grief and pain. "Noah fucking Woodens, you got that?" He raved, slapping the bunny hard across it's foamy cheek.   
  
He limped away from the rabbit, examining the menu once more. Under the picture of him the stencling proclaimed   
  
'THE REAL DEAL DOUBLE DECKER-This is what it's all about folks! Our tried and true combination of top grade ham, salami, roast beef   
  
and pastrami meat hunkered down with crisp iceburg lettuce, sweet pickles and four kinds of sliced cheese that will leave you smiling   
  
like you were six again. Try one today! They're selling like hotcakes! It's your last chance don't miss out!-75.'   
  
Noah shook his head in amusement, as miss had the 'M' and 'I' scribbled out in black, replaced with 'W' and then 'U'.   
  
Noah fished around in his pockets for the three remaining quarters, noting that all three selections were exactly 75 cents.   
  
A strikingly good price for today's economy. "I'm not wussing out, you asshole." Noah told the rabbit, glaring at the silly thing as   
  
he rubbed his chin. He had come here to find James, and had found instead that everything that kept his friend was either a lie   
  
or something he could no longer bear to have in his life. "Sorry, my friend." Noah apologized, eyeing the picture of Estelle.   
  
She was who he wanted to find now, dying with James had been his original plan but not anymore. Now he wanted to live, with Estelle.   
  
To get her out of here and make her as happy as he could, as happy as she made him feel. But she'd chose to stay behind, reminding   
  
him with her last words that this was his fight and his alone. Noah had realized that at some point, and also that the only way to see Estelle   
  
again was to go on his own path. And hope she was a part of it, waiting to greet him with that smile of hers at the finish line.   
  
"Alright, here we go." Noah said softly, taking a deep breath to stop his hand from trembling as he touched his own picture and pressed into it.   
  
His fingers went right through, causing the picture to bleed as a small metal obejct slid out from Robbie-kun's pants with a 'ka-ching'.   
  
Noah took brief amusement in that it now looked as if Robbie-kun had an erection, chuckling lightly as he went over to the rabbit.   
  
It was a coin slot, of course, Noah should have seen that coming.   
  
Like the ones in pool tables or laundry machines that make you push the slot back in once you've placed your money into it.   
  
He saw there were four slots, yet he only had three quarters and the menu had advertised each item as costing exactly 75 cents.   
  
Noah shrugged slightly, placing his money in the first three slots. Raising an eyebrow as he met Robbie-kun's eyes, he pushed the   
  
slot back into the bunny. There was a sound of clanking metal gears, as Noah turned towards the sudden noise and hefted the pickax  
  
in his hand. The ladder, seemingly something more than that uncurled again. Only this time straight out across the night sky.  
  
It formed a bridge, connecting to a similar squared metal platform about sixty feet away. An eerrie red light of some sort shone over there,   
  
as Noah began walking across the ladder. It was a little difficult, stepping on the far spaced rungs in such a manner.   
  
He reached the other side, only daring to look down once his feet touched the solid metal of the second platform. The blackness below   
  
seemed infinite, and something within it stirred causing Noah to look away and concentrate on the task at hand. He already knew   
  
there was all sorts of ugliness out to bury him in this town, being big or fearsome didn't mean anything. The platform was almost   
  
devoid of anything, save a small desk with an old wooden chair. Noah sat down in it, making sure it would hold him before resting his   
  
full weight on it. All the drawers of the desk were inexplicably locked, one of them sporting a strange metal plate with a thin slot.   
  
The desktop had only grueseome pictures drawn in varying colors, each sheet of paper a different work of 'art' and seeming to tell   
  
a story. "Can't I just kill something and get the hell out of here?" Noah growled, studying the pictures. None of them held any meaning   
  
for his situation, though one seemed to depict him and James in his apartment. They were essentially stick figures, and the one of Noah  
  
seemed to be talking to James. James looked severely uninterested, a cartoony sweatdrop hanging from his brow. Noah sifted back through the   
  
other drawings, which had all changed. The art now made a little slideshow, with him talking and James looking more and more aggravated  
  
in each picture. The last piece of paper had Noah being stabbed by James who had apparentely had enough.   
  
Noah frowned, pursing his lips as he realized that's how it had been. Until he had formed himself to James' ways, desperate to keep his only   
  
friend. Noah looked back down at the one drawer with the metal plate, acting out of some lurid instinct borne from surviving the town as long   
  
as he had. He took out his knife, now stained with his blood from cutting his shirt to ribbons. He jammed it forceably into the plate's slot,   
  
hearing a blood curdling scream that sounded like James as the plate bled. The drawer remined shut, but the top drawer popped open an inch or two.   
  
Inside it was a final piece of paper, depicting Noah stabbing James first. "Would you really have it come to that, James?" Noah said sadly,   
  
taking a quarter from the drawer. Nothing else was in it, and it wouldn't close again either. Noah stood up, taking hold of his knife as   
  
he pocketed the final coin in his jeans. The knife came free immediately, the blade breaking off inside. Noah sighed, patting the pickax  
  
as he started back across the ladder refusing to look down. 'Don't you give out on me." Noah said to his pickax, not wanting to think   
  
about how he'd do with no weapons at all. Noah reached the first platform again, the metal slot prompty sliding out from Robbie-kun's   
  
crotch. Noah placed the last quarter in it's place, shoving the metal device back into the rabbit for what he hoped was the last time.   
  
The ladder withdrew itself, curling back up to the edge of the platform before extending again, straight up. "Lovely." Noah mused,   
  
resuming the climb. Another platform was not to far up, and held a small bottle of ether along with two health drinks and a   
  
first aid kit for Noah to find. He drank one of the health drinks greedily, throwing the empty bottle off the edge into the void beneath   
  
him just for fun. To his surprise Noah heard a dull thunk, and a loud angry growl from something that sounded quite big. It was best   
  
to keep moving no doubt, Noah thought as the ladder seemingly read his mind and extended out flat again. He could see no   
  
adjoining platform this time, but walked along the ladder anyhow for lack of a better option. Whatever that thing had been   
  
it was best if Noah wasn't around when it came to see who had hit it with a bottle. There was indeed another metal platform,   
  
this one much furhter away and having nothing at all for Noah to pick up and nowhere else to go.   
  
"Bummer." Noah said, shining the flashlight around.   
  
The platform did have a back wall however, rising not more than four feet. All along it were scribblings in blood, most he couldn't make out.   
  
He saw the word help a few times, some choice four letter words also. The only things that really stood out read 'UOYSEVOLEIBBOR'   
  
and 'YNNUBEHTRAEF'. And that was only due to them being written in black as opposed to red, and the inordinate size of the letters.   
  
Noah studed them closer, as he could have sworn he heard footsteps. He turned, shining the flashlight back to the ladder-bridge.   
  
Nothing was there. He turned back to the wall, whirling around again as he was sure he'd heard someone this time.   
  
He kept the flashlight shone on the bridge, sweating cold as fear gripped him. There WERE footsteps, and they were coming closer.  
  
He heard an almost cheerful laugh, and gentle cooing as the footsteps stopped. "Oh no, you have got to be shitting me..." Noah   
  
mummered, as the footsteps picked up their pace, coming quickly towards him now. "You have got to be shitting me!!"   
  
Noah repeated, his shouts echoing into nothingness as Robbie-kun came barreling down the bridge at him. He was moving  
  
extraordinarily fast, yet it seemed more like he was skipping. The pipe still in his hand. Noah backed away and rasied his   
  
pickax as Robbie took a swing at Noah's head. Their melee weapons clashed, Noah catching the horrid white rabbit's  
  
pipe in the pickax's top arch. They were deadlocked, pushing against each other as Robbie did nothing but stare at him with   
  
shiny eyes and mutter arcane things Noah couldn't understand as Robbie's head seemed to be oddly pulled and twisted by space and time.   
  
The huge ears flopped as the bunny's head twtched and convulsed. Noah was petrified, screaming his guts out as Robbie-kun   
  
pushed him aside side with the strength of ten men. They both went over the edge of the platform, falling forverer. Noah could only scream  
  
as he distinctly heard the rabbit sing 'doo wah diddy diddy dum diddy doo'. Please let me die, Noah thought. Please God let the fall kill me   
  
before it gets any worse... 


	11. XI Greiving Child

SILENT HILL-Grieveing Child  
  
Noah woke suddenly, snapping his neck upwards as his nerves sparked to life.   
  
He almost wished he hadn't, the calm empty blackness of sleep was an easy alternative   
  
to the blackness of Silent Hill that was full of horror and tragic irony that cut deep into him.   
  
As Noah stood, he could see a faint light to the east shining brightly at first, then fading and returning once more.  
  
The distant shadow of a tower lurked beneath it, as Noah realized it was a lighthouse.   
  
He bent down over the motionless Robbie kun, inspecting him and prodding the foamy body   
  
with his toe. Noah looked upwards, searching the sky. There was no sign of the platforms and   
  
the strange animate ladder. Whole structures had a habit of vanishing quickly like that around here,   
  
Noah had noticed. The street they had landed on was as desolate as all the others he'd seen,   
  
and the rabbit had a large imprint on it's chest that Noah could plainly see a rough outline of his body in.  
  
"Thanks Doc." Noah said sarcastically, kicking Robbie's foam head. It seemed that the homicidal bunny had   
  
broken his fall, and was now severely dead. As if in a delayed reaction to Noah's kick, Robbie's head twitched.  
  
The radio in Noah's pocket came forth with static yet again, as Noah suddenly bolted down the street.   
  
He didn't even need to look, he knew that rabbit was about to get up. He had known that somewhere in the   
  
back of his head ever since he'd woken up and seen it laying there. Things in Silent Hill were only dead   
  
when they disappeared or when the entire world shifted to something completely different Noah knew at least  
  
that much by now. As he ran he passed by a small dock, a single boat tied up to it with the cabin lights still on.   
  
Noah stopped on his heel, checking back down the street cautiously to see if Robbie was catching up.   
  
The rabbit was nowhere to be seen, so it was probably as safe as it would ever be to explore the boat.  
  
The vessel tipped gently as Noah stepped aboard, rocking the loose junk strewn about the deck back and forth.  
  
He examined some of it, holding the flashlight close as he crouched down. There was a first aid kit, oddly undamaged.  
  
Also two more health drinks and a compact little web camera that was used for video chatting over the internet.   
  
He pocketed all the items, taking another look out at the street for Robbie kun before venturing inside the cabin.   
  
Noah found that the lights really were all off, the illumination that had caught his eye came from a multitude of candles  
  
lit in a strange kind of pattern that ressembled the mark he'd been seeing more and more of around town.   
  
A triangular shape with a circle around it. The candles lined the floor and walls, dripping wax everywhere.   
  
The only other noteable thing in the ship's cabin was a small cabinet in the center of the mass of candles.   
  
Noah stepped towards it carefully, working his feet slowly around the melting wax. It was one of those old   
  
fashioned types with the single rolling sheet of wood as a door that rolled up into the cabinet when pushed,   
  
and could be pulled back over the cabinet using the handle at the bottom of the door. This one however,   
  
was stuck. A closer examination revealed that someone had sealed the sliding door shut with a roll of duct tape  
  
that now lay beside it. The whole roll had been used, from the looks of it. The roll was nothing but cardboard now,  
  
laying bare as all it's skin now furnished the front of the cabinet. Whoever had done this had been excruciatingly  
  
thorough, as Noah inspected the strips of tape going around the side to the back of the cabinet, all the way around  
  
to the front again before being criscrossed with tape laid across the front of the cabinet door. As much as Noah   
  
tugged and pulled, even biting did nothing to loosen the binds. Noah thought of his knife, forgetting for a moment   
  
that it had been broken off inside the strange desk he'd found. And the pickax was history, falling from his hands   
  
as he and Robbie had tumbled to certain doom. Although nothing was for certain in this town, albeit that Noah would   
  
need a new weapon of some sort before too long. As he took a deep breath, trying to think of a way to get the cabinet  
  
open his nostrils caught a whiff of something peculiar. He sniffed the air some more, moving about as his nose  
  
homed in on the scent. It led him to a small crack in the right side of the cabinet, where a strip of duct tape was   
  
peeled slightly away. It almost looked like it had been done from the inside, and as Noah leaned closer he saw  
  
that it indeed had. Someone, or rather someone's hand was right at the small opening inside the cabient.   
  
Noah swallowed hard, ignoring how gross that actually was as he slipped his thumb and forefinger into the crack.   
  
He caught hold of the fingers, cringing as his eye went wide. The hand had caught hold of his fingers as well, and was  
  
trying to use his hand to wedge itself out. Noah let it, tugging gently as he commanded his eyeballs to stay in their sockets.  
  
He began sweating cold, his heart rate escalating as the hand managed to climb along his fingers until it's own were  
  
sticking out of the small crack in the cabinet. Noah let go at once, holding back a scream as he quickly wiped  
  
his hand against his jeans. It was stained with blood, as the now exposed hand was seen to be bleeding from   
  
underneath it's fingernails. The fingernails were slowly rising and lowering, as if some sickening parasite were   
  
trying to break free into the world. Noah caught wind of the same smell, stronger this time as he tried to identify it.   
  
Sulfer, maybe? No, was it...Noah had an idea, grimacing as he bent down to examine the hand protruding from the   
  
cabinet. "Nitrate.." Noah grumbled, wondering for a moment who the hell went around setting all this crazy shit up.   
  
Gunpowder's steroid-laden brother, and the hand as well as the cabinet was full of it. And with all the candles  
  
the room wasn't far removed from being one giant firecracker. And that, it dawned on Noah was the point of course.   
  
  
  
Noah shone the flashlight into the cabinet's small breach, suddenly glad he hadn't acted on his impulse to grab   
  
one of the burning candles. A small series of writing was visible. It was all the way on the inside of the opposite end  
  
though, impossible to get to or make out from where he was. Noah stood up, reaching into his back pocket and removing  
  
the bottle of ether he'd picked up on the aerial platforms. "I'm starting to see, Estelle." Noah said with a faint smile,   
  
popping the top off the bottle and soaking the hand as well as the interior of the cabinet as far in as he could reach.   
  
Backing away, he leaked the rest of the ether out in a trail as he retraced his steps to the door being very mindful  
  
of the candle flames. When the bottle was empty, Noah took one of the candles from it's holder and held it above  
  
the trail of liquid. The exact instant he let it drop, his legs pistoned for the door like gangbusters. It was locked.   
  
"What the fucking hell!" Noah shouted, his heart seizing up as the flames shot down the ether trail faster than greased  
  
lightning. Noah had no time left, hurling his body through the ship's small window. He screamed as fire touched  
  
his pant leg, searing against his skin as the glass shredded through his arms held out in front of his face.   
  
The boat exploded marvelously, much like a giant firecracker just as Noah had said. He rolled painfully   
  
along the street, bits of debris becoming airborne splinters of death as they zipped by. Noah batted at his left leg,   
  
smothering the fire as it burned through his jeans and left a fairly small hole just above the calf. Noah moaned   
  
in pain, staggering to his feet as a flaming piece of wood landed soundly at his feet. He chuckled slightly,   
  
grinning as he saw it was the exact part of the cabinet with the writing he couldn't make out before.   
  
Now, in the glamourous light of the burning ship he could read it clearly. 'GOTCHA' was all it said,   
  
making Noah laugh ever harder. All that for nothing, Noah thought. Just perfect. Immediately followling  
  
after that thought, a second object clanked to the docks with a much bigger noise. Noah went over to   
  
investigate, finding the match to the hand he'd seen inside the cabinet. This one tightly clutched a strong looking  
  
hunting bow, and though the hand was severed below the elbow it seemed to grip it's weapon even now   
  
with a ghostly kind of strength. Noah yanked it free, having quite a bit more trouble with it than he'd thought.  
  
Fastened to the hunting bow, of course with duct tape was a small metal quiver teeming with arrows.   
  
"Well damn yeah.." Noah said under his breath, taken off guard by the sudden and generous gift.   
  
It made him very fucking suspicious, and as he hefted the weighty bow he finally spied Robbie kun.   
  
The hellish rabbit was still skipping even after all that, the crackwhore grin etched on his face for all time.   
  
"Come and get it Robbie." Noah grunted, lifting up the quiver of arrows and slinging it over his shoulder.   
  
He took one, drawing it up as Robbie came closer. Suddenly the bunny vanished, Noah's first arrow soaring  
  
into the dark night fog unti lit was lost. "Fuck you." Noah growled, turning about as he drew a second arrow.   
  
He held the bow half drawn, his eyes and mind working together to find their prey. Noah saw him for a second,   
  
behind an old lamppost waving foolishly at him. Noah held off, knowing the enemy was only taunting him  
  
and trying to make him waste more arrows. Something felt like it was washing over the back regions of his brain,   
  
fighting to surface. There was a strange familiarity here, there had been ever since Robbie had sent the both of them   
  
plummeting from the heavens. He had to remember, he was sure it was something he needed to know.   
  
Robbie winked out of sight again, appearing right behind Noah and raising his weapon. Perhaps a reason for   
  
the fluffy demon taking so long to track him down, his pipe had been upgraded to a double barrel Remington.   
  
Noah's jaw tried to touch the ground, as he ducked low and ran straight into his opponent shoulder first.   
  
The shotgun whipcracked thunder, firing close enough to make Noah's ears ring as his weight shoved  
  
Robbie aside. The rabbit countered by bringing the gun's stock against Noah's left wrist as he rasied the bow,   
  
crunching his bones together as Noah screamed out. The agony was almost unbearable, as his left hand no longer  
  
listened to him. Out of blind rage he grabbed Robbie's oversized head, bringing it into hard contact with his   
  
knee and hiking clear over the rabbit's doubled over form. Noah flipped rather gracefully into the air, landing   
  
behind Robbie with the bow now fully drawn and Robbie's neck caught against the solid metal bow.   
  
Noah had used his weight to draw as he landed, keeping the string taut with his usable hand as he plucked  
  
an arrow free of the quiver with his teeth. He dropped it quckly into his waiting hand, as Robbie began to   
  
make those awful occultish ramblings again. The bunny's whole body twitched and shook, changing as Noah   
  
shafted the arrow and let it go. Robbie's entire body inexplicably shifted to face him. The shotgun was   
  
so close it touched Noah's forehead, as the second arrow found it's mark straight and true. Without   
  
the slightest hesitation Noah reloaded the bow in the same way, shooting arrow after arrow long after the   
  
rabbit had toppled over and stopped moving. "That's a dead aim.." Robbie gasped in a truly demonic howl.  
  
The moans and chants died down, as Noah's vision clouded over.  
  
Realization hit him like a ton of bricks, as he remembered at last why this all seemed so familiar.   
  
Noah stood there, shocked into silence as he stared at Robbie kun. That day, so many painful years ago   
  
at the fair. His father had entered into the archery contest with him, and they had claimed victory by   
  
only 3 points. The bullseye Noah had made on his last shot was the deciding one, and when Noah had   
  
let it fly before it even hit the stuffed straw target Noah's father had tousled his hair and whispered   
  
into his son's ear. "That's a dead aim you got, Noah." He felt sick, utterly sick as he collapsed on top of the   
  
huge rabbit. His throat gasping in dry heaves, as his memories threatened to implode his skull.   
  
The prize, Noah remembered had been the tallest, cutest and most huggable white rabbit he'd ever seen.   
  
The same white rabbit that had graced countless billboards and marquees at that fair. Robbie kun,   
  
the mascot of Lakeside Amusement Park where Noah's father and he had gone to attend that fair.   
  
Not a full ten minutes from where they'd lived, a little blue house on Levin street which was on the   
  
other side of town yet still close. "I...I'm home.." Noah practically sobbed, as he let his face rest   
  
against Robbie kun's enormous chin. Almost on a whim, Noah looked down at him. There was a   
  
zipper, just below the neck. Noah brought his wrecked form to a standing position, dragging the   
  
rabbit up as he tugged at the zipper. It gave easily, as did the one Noah found on it's back.   
  
Noah opened the rabbit suit up, gasping as the wearer slowly slid out. Slumping against the ground,   
  
Noah beheld the lifeless eyes of his father once more.   
  
"Ohh..Ahhhh...Christ no.." Noah mummbled, his head refusing to stay still.   
  
"You bastards! You didn't have to...What are you trying to prove! " Noah screamed  
  
hatefully at the bright moon hung low in the twilight sky. "You didn't have to...Go dad.." Noah said,   
  
his voice trailing off. "I didn't want the sodden cake...Just you..."  
  
Without knowing reason, or what it would accomplish Noah took his father's place   
  
inside the Robbie suit. There was just enough room in the legs to tuck away the bow and shotgun,   
  
as Noah zipped himself up and headed instinctively west. The memory of his hometown returning,   
  
Noah knew he would need to veer north after a few mintues, jogging slowly and lucidly as   
  
his mind fed him the directions. Directions to Lakeside Amusement Park, where Noah hoped   
  
more answers awaited him. 


	12. XII Lakeside Nest

SILENT HILL-LAKESIDE NEST  
  
The landscape became increasingly familiar, as Noah plodded along in the Robbie suit.   
  
All the surroundings, the sights, even the smells told nostalgiac stories about his youth.  
  
This had been his home, the only place he'd been happy. His parents had done so much,  
  
they'd been so good to him. Life at that point was as it should have been for all children,   
  
and then death had swooped down and heartlessly robbed Noah of that life.   
  
Everything after that time had been as nothing, an immense blur like a wet eraser smudged over a   
  
beautiful family portrait. And what had happened to this town in his abscence? When had   
  
Satan himself seemingly claimed this town for his own and changed it in such sorrid ways?   
  
Noah heard a horribly anguished groan, stopping just inside the gate of the amusement park  
  
and hugging the wall cauiously. He peeked quickly arond the edge, regarding the initial area  
  
of the park with curiosity. There were more, two more Robbie kun bunnies to be exact.   
  
The pink one was groaning and convulsing in agony, as the white Robbie kun bashed him with   
  
what looked to be a very large maul. Noah watched the carnage, turning his eyes away as the   
  
final blow the white Robbie kun dealt bled the pink one's head profusely. It staggered towards  
  
the other still, singing the white Robbie's fur with a flamethrower before falling facefirst   
  
right on top of it. Noah withdrew back against the wall, his mouth contorting in disgust as   
  
the pink Robbie incinerated itself. The genocidal white rabbit did a funny little jig, dancing   
  
in front of his fallen comrade's flaming corpse. "Holy shit, they really are the bunnies from hell!"   
  
Noah whispered, watching as the white Robbie kun depostied his dead friend into a eerily oversized  
  
gurney. It wheeled him off, routinely skipping as Noah knew it would. He stealthily followed them,  
  
seeing now that the bunny costume had been a good idea. No way could he take on too many   
  
more of those things, and who knew how many were lurking around here?   
  
God, his hand was absolutely numb, Noah had to keep from grunting with effort as he moved.   
  
He could feel it swollen to twice it's size already, surely fractured and most likely broken.   
  
The white Robbie wheeled the gurney to a weird looking cage elevator near the gift shop,   
  
pushing the button and bobbing happily as it waited. Noah hung back, hidden atop  
  
a stairway leading down as he observed the creature. Why would it kill it's own like that?  
  
Were they some kind of self destructing species time had long forgotten, or what?   
  
Noah was about to tell himself that was too much like science fiction, but all things   
  
considered he wished he'd watched a little more of it. It might have helped him get used  
  
to the insanity this town reeked of a little quicker.   
  
The elevator finally arrived, as the white Robbie wheeled it's dead pal into the car.   
  
It turned and put a hand on it's hip in a lackadasial manner, selecting a floor as it's head  
  
twitched slightly. As soon as the elevator started moving, Noah advanced to it himself.   
  
His one good hand gripping the remington from within the suit. Without any hesitation he   
  
skipped despite his scorched leg, mimicking the movements as best he could.   
  
It seemed to work, as the white Robbie gave him a single overexagerated wave.   
  
It's body bounced energetically, as if it were incredibly joyed to see another of it's kind.   
  
Noah returned the gesture, biting his tongue to keep from screaming as the pain   
  
washed over him. The white Robbie turned it's back, pulling the sheet away from the dead  
  
pink rabbit as if to show off it's catch. Noah took his chance, bringing the shotgun up inside   
  
the suit and firing point blank into the white Robbie's head. Both shots went clean through,   
  
as the white Robbie turned back to face Noah. "Well goddamnit, that's no good.." Noah swore,   
  
reloading as fast as he could with his wrist all fucked. The white Robbie actually seemed happy, as if   
  
it thought Noah was playing a game with it. It put it's hands over it's mouth and mimicked  
  
giggling, the most terrifying mime there ever was Noah thought. The white Robbie   
  
took the flamethrower from it's counterpart's dead hand, holding it up for Noah to see.   
  
He took the gesture to mean it was his 'turn', meaning Noah was about to be roasted.   
  
At a glance, the buckshot while ineffective against the white Robbie had put several   
  
small holes in the cage elevator behind it. Noah jumped as best he could with two   
  
injured legs, dropkicking the rabbit with both feet as he felt the shiotgun slide down   
  
his leg. The hair trigger went off, blowing through the foot of Noah's costume and   
  
adding enough impact to his attack to launch the crazy rodent clean out of the elevator cage.   
  
It fell as if it were on some enjoyable ride, raising both middle fingers at Noah as it crashed against  
  
several objects before fading into the void below.   
  
Satisfied with that, Noah picked himself off the ground and pulled the sheet back over the pink Robbie.   
  
The floor it had selected was eight, and the elevator was currently whizzing by the twenties so Noah had a few mintues.   
  
He used them to shed the Robbie suit, taking out a first aid kit and using the bandages inside to bind his wrist and ankle.  
  
He hid the blood soaked scraps of what was once his favorite shirt under the sheet with the pink Robbie, and glugged   
  
down a health drink before getting back into the costume. Just as he zipped up the elevator stopped, the cage door   
  
whisking upwards and giving way to the dank and rather rusty looking hallway beyond. Noah took a deep breath,   
  
and began wheeling the gurney ahead of him as he skipped his little heart out. Down here there were many more   
  
Robbies alive and dead, and it seemed to be only the pink ones selected as targets. Noah once again gave silent   
  
thanks to his father for leaving him a white Robbie suit, as he trotted merrily down the hall. Up ahead was a pile   
  
of pink Robbies, with some white ones dropping off more. Noah followed suit, leaving the flamethrower behind   
  
with the pink rabbit. He had no more room for weapons and they seemed to be of no avail against these   
  
devilish critters anyway.   
  
The white Robbies seemed accepting enough, most paying him no mind at all. The ones that did only waved or   
  
made clownish gestures towards him, which Noah dutifully returned. He seemed to keep up the guise for hours,   
  
until his exploration of the Robbies' nest for lack of a better word led him to a huge sideways door. It was a good six feet  
  
up and Noah had to jump in order to turn the knob and open it. It led away from the nest, and Noah saw no more of the   
  
Robbies as he proceeded down yet another rusty looking hallway. Noah finally decided to dispose of the Robbie outfit,   
  
tossing it into a random closet that had things which could have been giant mutated cockroaches living in it.   
  
Noah shivered at the sight of them, closing the door quickly and keeping the shotgun in one hand as the   
  
bow and quiver went over his shoulders. Noah's limp was worsening, as he realized he'd grazed a toe with that   
  
shotgun powered kick to white Robbie's head. As he explored deeper into what seemed to be basement levels  
  
spreading throughout the tpark, things were looking rather hi-tech. In fact as he reached a door to the surface,   
  
he had to input a six digit code to open it. Noah almost immediately tried 'G-O-T-C-H-A' which of course, was correct.   
  
"And I got you Robbie, you fuck." Noah spat out proudly, opening the door. Directly in front of him was the walkway  
  
for a haunted house, and Noah had to stop for a second as memories of squealing with delight as he ran through   
  
the dark halls and cheesy scares as a child came rushing back. Good lord, he had really been here..There was  
  
no denying that now.   
  
Noah found two boxes of shotgun shells convieniently placed on the stairs leading up to the haunted house,   
  
placing them in his already full pockets as he continued on. The first room was empty, as a cheery announcer  
  
spoke from the intercom system. 'Welcome to the haunted house, we hope you enjoy your stay.  
  
Please enter through the door when you feel ready. Have fuuuuun! HAHAHAHAAAA.." The lame laughter   
  
trailed off unexpectedly as Noah rasied an eyebrow. He opened the double doors ahead of him, entering a room  
  
covered with blood and marks from a sharp something or other all along the walls. Noah didn't even wait   
  
for the announcer to speak, and simply pressed on through the next door. The next room was actually a little  
  
creepy, with a man rocking back in forth in a big chair and facing an even bigger window. Noah almost  
  
thought it looked like James for a second, and walked over closer to him. "James?" Noah called out quietly,   
  
as the man refused to move. Noah went closer, touching the man's shoulder. His head fell off directly,   
  
rolling away from Noah as he tried not to have a heart attack about it. "This fucking place..." Noah   
  
cursed, walking back onto the set path through the room. A body suddenly fell from the ceiling with  
  
a resounding scream, receiving two barrels of ammo from Noah who fired on pure reflex before he even saw  
  
that the body actually was real. It dripped blood steadily to the floor, having the girth of two men and sporting   
  
a backwards baseball cap that looked hideously wrong on any man that fat, dead or alive. The look on the   
  
man's face suggested he had not been a nice person, and had met with someone even less nice who had   
  
killed him quite brutally. A long, almost swordlike gash ran across his whole length, and Noah couldn't   
  
help but ponder what kind of evil murdering bastard would do a fellow up in such a way. Whoever had done it was   
  
right up there with the kind of sick bastards that murdered their spouses and derived joy from playing in toilets.   
  
The next room, while different from Noah's memory had the same spiked ceiling that always fell and then stopped  
  
a good two feet above any average heighted person's head. It wasn't until Noah had already gone past, that the   
  
ceiling fell the rest of the way, crashing through the whole floor as it fell forever into darkness. Noah turned,   
  
throughly scared by the sudden mishap. 'You bastards!" Noah shouted out, as the announcer chuckled and gleefully   
  
apologized. "Sooory! This place is just falling apart, as you can see." Noah pursed his lips, vowing to beat the announcer  
  
good if ever they met. The door ahead, Noah remembered led to the last room, a winding hall of mirrors.  
  
Noah opened the door, his breath taken away all at once as Estelle greeted him with her heavenly smile.   
  
"You've done so well Noah." She encouraged, as Noah looked beyond her to see James standing nearby. James was smiling,   
  
smiling so very wide and wrongly as he raised a massive knife over Estelle's head. 


	13. XIII Sunderland

SILENT HILL-Sunderland  
  
Noah dove, ignoring his mind as it reminded him how much this was going to hurt.   
  
The knife, bigger than big and taller than it's wielder came crashing down and cut   
  
the last inch or so from the sole of Noah's shoe. Estelle had been safely pushed  
  
away by Noah's body, and now sat on the floor looking from Noah to James  
  
with skittish fear. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!!" Noah roared angrily,   
  
whipping the knuckles of his good hand across James' jaw. James didn't even   
  
budge, and Noah had put a lot behind that punch. Maybe Noah was a lot more   
  
weakened than he had thought. James said nothing back, and leered as he stared Noah down.  
  
"What's happened to you..." Noah asked him, eyeing the great knife he now held.   
  
It looked about the right size for the fatal gash on that poor fat bastard that had   
  
come down from the ceiling, Noah thought. "What's happened to you, Noah?"   
  
James returned, eyeing him with stone cold pupils as his head tilted to one side.   
  
He lifted the great knife rather easily, resting it on his shoulder. "You never used to   
  
be such a lapdog, especially not for any skinny, eyeless, motormouth BITCH."   
  
James bellowed out the last, his gaze shifting hatefully to Estelle. Noah hit him again,   
  
this time using the dead weight of his numb left and putting everything he could behind it.   
  
James fell back, a little. He was laughing as blood leaked out from his lips, licking his   
  
teeth as they stained his tongue red. "What the....I came here to find you and this is how you   
  
act when you see me? You threaten me like this and then you try to kill my...my..."   
  
Noah shot a glance over at Estelle, who was still watching with intense fear.   
  
"Your what?" James asked him, suddenly amused. "Your girlfriend? You got a little girlfriend now Noah?   
  
Hmm? Do you loves her?" Noah scowled viciously, raising the shotgun and sticking it promptly bewteen   
  
James' flapping gums. "Yeah, yeah I do." Noah said stoutly, reminding himself that honesty was sometimes   
  
the line between living and dying in this fucked up town. "What about you James? What is she to you?   
  
Do you even know her at all? James?!" Noah didn't want to shout, but this was already so very far out of hand.   
  
Something awful had obviously come over James, the town must have gotten to him, inside him somehow.   
  
James shrugged, glaring over at Estelle again. "She talks too much." James stated plainly, changing the great knife's   
  
postion on his shoulder. Noah cocked back the hammer of the shotgun, breaking two of James' teeth with a quick  
  
elbow movement. "Look at her again and you're going to die." Noah threatened protectively, taking another glance  
  
at Estelle while James continued to leer even with the hunk of steel in his mouth. "Die? Death doesn't mean too much  
  
to me anymore Noah. You'll have to come up with something better than that.." James warned, moving the hand that held   
  
the great knife ever so slowly. Noah saw him move, not knowing what it meant. Perhaps he hadn't meant to bring it down   
  
on him, or Estelle either. In fact James could have moved his hand like that for more reasons than Noah could count,   
  
but it didn't matter. Noah had already pulled the trigger, and no force on earth short of whatever god held precedence here  
  
could reverse what it had done to James' head. Noah stared in horror, unable to move as a chunk of grey matter oozing with  
  
blood slid down the side of the remington's barrel. The liquidy sound it made when it hit the floor snapped Noah out of the   
  
shock, and he began to scream. Estelle got up, looking wobbly on her feet as Noah sunk to his knees.   
  
James lay not two feet from him, flat on his back and utterly headless. The ragged stump of his neck trembled as blood  
  
still poured out, staining the floor around him. Estelle approached Noah carefully, slowly putting a hand on his shoulder as he   
  
fell gently over into her arms. She knelt down, cradling his head in her lap as Noah wept pathetically.   
  
Static burst forth from Noah's radio, as James' corpse quivered all over. It felt as if the entire room were shaking as   
  
Estelle begged Noah to get up. He knew, he'd heard the radio. He could feel the ground trembling just as well as she   
  
could. And slowly he stood, composing himself as well as he was able. Estelle said nothing more to him, as she led him   
  
down the shaking hallway with mirrors gracing the walls. As they began to run, James Sunderland began to rise. 


	14. XIV Accessory To Evil

SILENT HILL- Accessory To Evil  
  
Noah and Estelle ran through the winding maze, the mirrors along the wall making surreal pictures  
  
out of the two forms moving quickly along. The rumbling died down, as Estelle stopped in front of   
  
a door. She grabbed Noah's hand and made him stop too, opening the door as Noah followed without   
  
question. Inside it was like a small office, with filing cabinets along the walls in a 'C' shape.   
  
In face the only space the filing cabinets left was filled by a large computer desk. The monitor that   
  
sat atop it was dark, yet the lights on the computer itself were glowing solid green.   
  
"Can we use this?" Noah asked excitedly, moving over to it. His hand brushed by the mouse accidentally   
  
as his hand tapped at the keyboard, causing the screen to light up. Noah saw there were a few programs   
  
open, one of them seeming to control the haunted house's door locks. "The exit's locked, isn't it."   
  
Estelle said worridly, as Noah checked through the listing of doors. "Yep." Noah sighed, looking for a way   
  
to override it. "Shit this is no good, I'm not much for computers Estelle." Noah explained, as almost everything  
  
he tried to do with the sysytem asked for a password. He could spend a solid week in here and not crack a single one   
  
of them. "Does it give any clues?" Estelle questioned, looking over Noah's shoulder at the screen.   
  
"Clues for what?" Noah asked dumbly, searching through everything the computer would let him access.   
  
"For the passwords, idiot." Estelle shot back, raising her voice a little. "Most systems let you leave hints for   
  
the password in case you forget it, didn't you know that?" Estelle lectured, as Noah began to try random passwords.   
  
"So much for me doing so well, huh?" Noah grumbled, not at all understanding why she'd said that if she still  
  
thought he was such an idiot. "Sorry." Estelle said simply, as Noah kept trying password after password.   
  
After five wrong passwords a message popped up, asking if he'd lost or forgotten his password and if he'd   
  
like to use the password recovery. Noah clicked on the yes button, bringing up another screen that posed a question.   
  
'One pink one white, be it wrong or right the white rule supreme while the pink only bleed.' Noah smirked a bit,   
  
knowing the answer already. He typed 'Robbie-Kun' into the password box, frowning in surprise as the lost password  
  
box came up again. And the same damn clue. "What the hell.." Noah growled, scratching his head. Estelle   
  
leaned even closer, then turned to Noah. "You didn't use any spaces did you?" She accused, as Noah began   
  
to feel frustrated. 'No I didn't, ok?" He snapped, trying just 'Robbie'. Still wrong. "Puncuation or characters? Anything  
  
that's not a number or letter?" Estelle asked again, as Noah was about to repeat his answer. "No dashes, got it."   
  
Noah said suddenly, sounding quite enbarrased. Without the dash mark RobbieKun worked just fine and he chose  
  
the option to unlock all the doors, just to be on the safe side. A live feed from cameras showed various areas of the   
  
haunted house as the doors all unlocked. Noah grunted as he stood up, the shotgun feeling heavy in his hand as Estelle   
  
led the way back into the winding mirror halls. She always seemd to know just where she was going everytime they met,   
  
it was amazing to Noah that she could see everything about the town so well. He didn't know why, but somehow his   
  
grief for James had been extremely short lived. Could it be some part of him had wanted to kill James, and knew  
  
all along what kind of person he really was? Or had the town of Silent Hill just made him that used to making   
  
balck or white decisions based on nothing more than a gut instinct.   
  
For whatever the reason it was sitting lighter on Noah's conscience than he thought it should, and that worried him.   
  
Further down the way Estelle led him along, there was a door thankfully marked 'EXIT' in big red lettering.   
  
An electric sign above the door confirmed that it was indeed the way out. Only when Noah grabbed the handle and pulled,   
  
the door wouldn't budge. "How the...but I saw the bloody thing unlock! You did too, right?"   
  
Noah asked frantically of Estelle, who rasied an eyebrow and sighed as she turned away from him in annoyance.   
  
Noah was a lot more frustrated now, and kicked the door hard even though his feet were as banged up as the rest of him.  
  
"GAHHHH!!" Noah shouted in pain, holding his ankle as the impact of the heavy door sent shockwaves through his many wounds.   
  
"We have to try again." Estelle stated matter of factly, starting back down the hall without him. Noah walked after her,   
  
about to point out that this was the only exit the computer had shown and if it wasn't unlocked going back to the computer wouldn't   
  
solve anything. Then he rembered, about nothing being what it seemed and physics not applying to this place. Estelle seemed to   
  
pick up on his thoughts, and smiled over her shoulder at him. Noah nodded shyly, realizing he'd caught himself   
  
just in time.   
  
The two of them reached the computer room again, the door easily opening inward. Only Noah could   
  
have sworn the door had swung out when they'd entered just a few minutes ago. "Uh oh.." Noah blurted out,   
  
his stomach lurching as he got the feeling this place was about to change like the others had.   
  
The computer screen flashed a warning message stating that the cameras were having problems and that   
  
the stream video drivers had to be recalibrated manaully. None of the keys Noah pressed did anything,   
  
and the computer kept asking for a removeable video source to perform the calibration tests.   
  
Noah recalled the web camera he'd found, taking it out and uncoiling the USB cable as Estelle held out her hand.   
  
He rasied an eyebrow at her, putting the cord in her hand as she ran it to the back of the computer and connected it   
  
for him. Noah still could make no sense of what had gone wrong. The cameras malfunctioning should have had nothing  
  
to do with the doors, unless the system was programmed to lock down if even the slightest thing went wrong.   
  
It was pretty heavy and complex security for a simple and generally low-tech haunted house, at any rate.   
  
Noah set the camera atop the monitor, as a small window opened up. There were controls for brightness and contrast,   
  
that sort of thing. Noah fiddled with them, watching the small video window as it showed the image of him with Estelle  
  
standing behind his chair with improving clarity. Noah felt strange, almost sleepy as he brought the camera into   
  
better focus. The video window skipped as lines of static went across it, and Noah saw the picture of his head  
  
shake and convulse momentarily. Suddenly he couldn't take his eyes off the screen, his head began to swim   
  
and he felt dizzy as the image changed. It wasn't the room they were in anymore, the video now showed the first  
  
stretch of the mirror hall with James' body still laying there.   
  
The view zoomed in on him, as he sat up with a sudden burst of energy. His whole body twitched and shook,   
  
as he picked up the great knife and stood straight again. His head still gone, Noah watched as the demon   
  
he'd once called his only friend bumped into walls repeatedly. Each time he did this he stood still for a second,   
  
as if he were confused. He would then lumber on down the hall until he ran into another wall, stopping in confusion   
  
and repeating the process again. After Noah watched James' do this for what seemed to be hours, he saw   
  
James raise the great knife and point it straight up at the camera. Right at him, Noah realized.   
  
Symbolic of what Noah had feared ever since he'd come upon those childish pictures.   
  
James truly was dead, if not physically at least the man that had been his friend was long gone. He was a monster now,  
  
and as such inspired more fear and sadness in Noah's heart then all the things he'd seen before all put together.   
  
James seemed to gain a better sense of direction, strutting off to make good his silent threat on Noah and bumping only   
  
into walls that hugged the corners as he turned them.   
  
"He's coming straight for us, he wants my blood now." Noah whispered in fear, as he only then became aware   
  
that Estelle had been talking the entire time. "Noah! Get UP! We have to get out of here!"   
  
She was screaming now, pulling at his shoulders as she looked around the room.   
  
The walls were becoming eeriely translucent, as pictures began appearing on them.   
  
It looekd as if someone had snuck in and set up projectors that now cast macabre images on the walls.   
  
There was a clunky sound like metal being bent, as the images all repeated the moment Noah had blown   
  
James' head apart. All from different angles, some closer or further away than others. Each time they recycled,   
  
James' face looked more and more frightened, almost innocent even though Noah was sure James had been   
  
sporting that sickening leer until the very last moment. The images were slowly altering Noah's face too,   
  
making him look a little more murderous and bloodthristy every time he pulled the trigger. Noah knew it   
  
was bullshit, knew it was James. He was sorely pissed now, trying to stall Noah with guilt and confusion while  
  
he made his way to the computer room. That gargantuan sword no doubt in his hand.   
  
Still even knowing that, Noah couldn't move. At last Estelle pulled him bodily out of the chair,   
  
slapping him hard across the face until his pupils widened and he acknowledged reality again. "Come on."   
  
He said defiantly, grabbing her hand as he began to hear a high pitched buzzing. As soon as he and Estelle   
  
were back in the mirror hall, they saw a red light that washed over everything as it approached.   
  
"You can't let that touch you!" Estelle warned, as Noah hadn't planned   
  
on getting too close fomr the moment he saw it. Anything that sounded like that in this town was generally a bad thing.   
  
The buzzing got louder, making their ears ring as they ran back to the exit. Miraculously it opened this time, clearing the   
  
way to the front steps Noah had come up when he'd entered the house. 'Oh give me a fucking break!" Noah cursed,  
  
as the red light was out there too. Now it was coming in at them from the direction of the merry go round, and the   
  
hallway they'd just run down was now safe. "This place makes my head hurt, shit." Noah griped, as he and Estelle   
  
ran back down the mirror hall. The red light was reflected in the mirrors, amplfying it's intensity and making it seem   
  
closer than it actually was. Up ahead was the door that had led out of the room with the collapsing ceiling, and Noah   
  
now hurled it open as his only escape route and ran through it with Estelle keeping on his heels. The entire next room   
  
was upside down now, so that the floor was whole and the ceiling contained the gap. Noah realized right away what   
  
that entailed and grabbed Estelle by the shoulder, throwing them both to the floor.   
  
Not a full second later the spiked ceiling originally intended as a harmless gag crashed through the floor again falling back out of the   
  
black hole it had been swallowed up by and plummeting down into another. Noah helped Estelle as they both scrammbled to their feet,   
  
Estelle not saying a word about it one way or the other as they continued to run. The red light was catching up, moving   
  
slighty faster than them and not nearly so easily exhausted. The walls began swimming red, mixing with the red glow   
  
behind Noah and Estelle as it was becoming extremely hard to see even with the flashlight.   
  
The next room held a frightening change, as the obese man who had been hanging from the rope with a huge gash   
  
along his chest now seemed to be trapped inside the bleeding walls. His form surfaced every so often, his face letting  
  
loose with horrible cries and a look of absolute horror before the house consumed his body once more.  
  
Noah grimaced as he ran past, watching as Estelle looked back over her shoulder at the poor soul.   
  
The man that had been sitting in the chair facing the window had also changed, as he now tried desperatly to   
  
walk with his body jittering and twitching in a way that made Noah's skin crawl. He had a thought, that perhaps   
  
it really had been the only thing he could have done to kill James before he'd killed Estelle, perhaps both of them.   
  
It seemed painfully ironic that the man in the chair he'd mistaken for James had lost his head the very instant  
  
Noah had touched him. Fate, possibly. Noah still didn't like it, but he liked what James was now even less.  
  
And no two ways about it James was going to being after him, and him alone. As if to illustrate that fact   
  
upon reaching the first room where the announcer had bid Noah to come in and have fun. James was waiting for him.   
  
The great knife rasied high and pointed at Noah in the form of a challenge. James must not have bothered to retrieve  
  
his head, as he stood there with his ragged stump of a neck quivering. It almost seemed to excite at the thought of   
  
crossing swords with Noah, as James took a step forward. Noah shook his head, hyperventialting as Estelle eyed him.   
  
She was worried, worried that Noah couldn't handle seeing his friend this way and having to fight against him.   
  
Noah picked up on her concerns, dashing them away as he tossed the shotgun to her and took the bow from his   
  
shoulder. He drew as she gripped the heavy weapon, her small hands operating the gun quite well.   
  
They both walked straight ahead, Estelle firing shot after shot into James chest as Noah shot arrows continuously.   
  
James didn't move, as each wound produced a low groaning from inside his neck. He wasn't going to fight, only block   
  
the way until the red light destroyed all three of them. Noah saw that James was biding his time, hearing the buzzing   
  
of the red illumination grow closer once again. Noah began to run, as Estelle fired faster. James sensed his rival coming,  
  
and brought the great knife down hard no more than three inches in front of Noah's head. Noah nimbly ran straight up the   
  
knife's dull side, kicking into James as he jumped over. Something awful and slimy shot out from the top of James' neck,   
  
as Noah looked down and saw that his neck had somehow mutated into a giant mouth devoid of any teeth. In fact it   
  
looked quite like an overgrown and overused labia, slobbering all over his leg as it pulled him closer. Estelle ran by,   
  
looking back as Noah's hands clawed the carpeted floor. James rasied the great knife once more, as Estelle turned back  
  
from the doorway and fired three times into his hand. Two of James' fingers fell to the floor, as his groaning became louder.   
  
The red light was right behind them now, Noah saw the glow wash against the greasy meat that had somehow replaced  
  
James' skin and struggled harder. Taking two arrows from his quiver Noah stabbed at whatever James' neck had become,   
  
lodging one inside the mouth. He twisted it cruelly, grinning as the arrowhead tore through muscle and flesh. The great knife now   
  
fell from James' hand, crushing his severed fingers as his damaged hand could no longer hold it. He fell over, stiill pulling Noah   
  
to him but weak enough now that Noah struggled free with Estelle grabbing both his hands and helping him to his feet.   
  
The red light seemed harmless to James, who basked in it and watched as Noah and Estelle fled. Suddenly there were planks  
  
instead of cement under their feet. They were on the roller coaster tracks, Noah realized with a shock. It had happened again,   
  
the damn alternate world was making everything crazy so that simply running towards a place didn't mean you got there.  
  
The red light seemed to be gone, as Noah stopped and doubled over huffing and breathing hard. Estelle stopepd also,   
  
leaning her side against him with a sigh as she panted. "I know it's a silly question but, think we're safe?" Noah put forth,   
  
not sure how much of it was actually a joke. His body was inevitably going to give out on him, and soon. He wanted nothing more  
  
than to hear her tell him that they were ok now and that he could rest. To his surprise, Estelle answered with a 'maybe'.   
  
Better than nothing Noah thought, as they caught their breath and continued walking. Noah slung the bow over his shoulder again,   
  
as Estelle handed the shotgun back to him. He gave it a full reload, and then turned to her with a quizzical look. "What happened  
  
to the handgun I gave you?" Noah asked, wondering why she hadn't used it on James instead of just standing there while he   
  
had almost killed her. Estelle shook her head, smiling in spite of herself as she looked down. "You mean you haven't figured it out?  
  
I told you already I'm a part of this town Noah, I don't have the free will to turn around and blast some psychopath just because   
  
my life is in danger."   
  
Noah frowned, not understanding her point. "You mean you have no free will? Then how come you could help   
  
me with James like that? You shot him up pretty good just then." Estelle sighed, hugging her arms around herself.   
  
"That's because you were there, and you willed me to do it." She replied sadly, still refusing to look up.   
  
They walked along the tracks together like that, until Noah could no longer hold it in.   
  
"I willed you to do it? What, like just because I wanted you to come with me and not die   
  
you suddenly got all GI jane with my shotgun? Bullshit, that can't be all it was." Estelle turned spitefully to him, frowning as if   
  
he'd just insulted her. "How many fucking times do I have to say it? I am a part of this town Noah! No different from anything   
  
else you see around here, I'm part of the trial. Just another little test for you to pass." Noah thought about her words,   
  
trying to imagine how it could be possible. That would make Estelle no different from his father attacking him in a Robbie suit,   
  
or the gut wrenching monster that symbolized his stepmom. Symbolized...Noah smirked, stopping and taking Estelle's hand in his  
  
own.   
  
"But that can't be true." Noah said, his voice deepening and indicating his sarcasm had stepped aside for something truly  
  
important . "Oh? And why is that?" Estelle said with a laugh, humoring him. "Because everything I've encoutered so far,   
  
all those little tests as you call them have all been some part of me manifested in the physical world." Estelle's mouth opened slightly,   
  
as if she wanted to say something to that but couldn't. Noah continued his speech, noting Estelle's silence.   
  
"But I've never met anyone like you before, Estelle. Not in my past when I lived here, not in the hell that I've been living since  
  
  
  
this town took my parents. Not ever. You don't fit into my memories anywhere, Estelle. I never even dreamed of a woman like you.  
  
I never would've dared to." Estelle turned away from him, withdrawing her hand forcefully from his. "Yes I do, Noah. We never met, but.."   
  
Noah shook his head, standing his ground beside her. "No you don't." He argued, sliding the quiver of arrows further onto his shoulder.   
  
"You told me, that the cult from this town took you away from your family and made you a prisoner here when you were fifteen.   
  
If that's true then even though I did live here at one point, you couldn't possibly have done anything that.." Estelle cut him off,   
  
turning sadly to face him as she touched his cheek. "Your father, was murdered." She stated plainly, running her fingernails along  
  
his face as she slid her hand away from it. "And I saw it, I was there. I was there because the person who shot him was   
  
my brother. He was a part of the cult too, I was never taken away from my family Noah. The cult is my family, my brothers   
  
and sisters, my mother and my cousins. It's been in our family for generations and, I'm just as bad as they are Noah. I'm   
  
just as responsible."   
  
Noah's face turned red, as anger filled him from head to toe. Estelle wasn't done, and began to walk again   
  
as she went on. "Do you know what it feels like? To watch so many die, to see so many lives destroyed and corrupted by   
  
such a pure evil? To see it and be powerless to stop any of it, and to know that the ones doing those terrible things are   
  
the only people you've ever had in your life?! You think I'm pretty and you think I'm innocent, and you want to play the hero   
  
and rescue me from this town but..You're wrong about me Noah! I would love to go away with you and be free from all of this  
  
horror, to know a life that doesn't make me feel so dirty, and polluted. But it's just a dream! And, people as bad as me don't   
  
get to have dreams..."   
  
Noah was beside himself, feeling all the most powerful of human emotions all at once.   
  
He hated it, hated that she'd been born into such a sinister group and been made to witness so much of their doing.   
  
Yes he hated, with all his heart he hated whatever cult had killed his father, and countless others besides.   
  
He held nothing but spite and contempt for everything an order like that stood for, and would like nothing better than   
  
to kill every last one of them with his bare hands and damn the consequences on his soul. But not Estelle, he didn't   
  
hate her one bit. perhaps he should have, perhaps it was wrong to exclude her from her family's deeds. But he just didn't   
  
believe, he couldn't believe she had done anything bad of her own free will.   
  
The little time they'd spent, the talks they had even though  
  
she always ended up yelling and calling him an idiot. He loved it. The way she would be so distant towards him one minute,   
  
and then see something wonderful inside him and become so warm. She made him feel like something wonderful truly was  
  
inside him, he believed it more and more everytime they met. Estelle had been a part of something awful, and still was.   
  
But rather than making him hate her fot it, it only made his will to save her more intense. He would not, no matter what  
  
they came up against he absolutely would not leave her here to suffer all the more. This was the end. He was going to end  
  
all this for her, and for himself as well. Noah looked tenderly at Estelle's pale complexion, turning to her as his hand touched her  
  
waist. She jumped in surprise, raising a hand to stop him but it was too late. His lips met hers, and for the smallest fraction   
  
of a second she melted into him. Realaxing her body as she fed off his kiss.   
  
That one moment seemed to stretch into eternity.  
  
An eternity in which Estelle was at last granted a dream, a dream where she was embraced and loved, respected and honored  
  
despite the wickedness that plauged her very existance. In the next instant, it all faded away as Estelle brought her hand   
  
soundly smakcing across Noah's already swollen jaw. His nostrils hissed as pain encompassed his head, but he held the kiss.   
  
She slapped him again, harder this time and still he refused to let go of her warm lips. She punched his gut, throwing her   
  
fists against his chest time and again, and Noah took every blow as his lips still touched hers. She finally bit his lip, bleeding it   
  
as she backed away from him scowling. "You..You are the stupidest, most foolish self deluded damned idiot I have ever..!"  
  
Estelle was screaming at the top of her lungs, as Noah only stood before her and shut out all the pain. "If you're right,   
  
and you're nothing but another part of this town. No dreams, no hope, a slave to other people's will. Than my will is to   
  
escape here with you, and to never leave your side." Noah spoke out in a strong voice, the aching pain making him   
  
brave.   
  
As Estelle opened her mouth to argue, Noah cut her off. "If you truly are a prisoner of this town like you say, you have   
  
to do it. You have to bend to my will, right?" Estelle looked scornfully at Noah, putting a hand to her lips as they remained   
  
slightly open. "And if I'm not? If this girl you foolishly allow yourself to love is actually real? " Estelle countered,   
  
breathing hard and trying to forget what he'd just done. "Then I'll set you free of this place." Noah vowed, turning away   
  
and walking down the tracks without her. "After that, if you don't choose to stay with me of your own free will that's just my   
  
hard luck, and you better not feel any guilt over it understand?" Noah shouted over his shoulder, as Estelle shed one single tear.  
  
She'd never met such a foolish and pathetic man, someome so hungry for another person, even the slightest bit of   
  
intimacy that he would risk his life unnecesarily for woman he barely knew.A woman who was involved with the murder  
  
of his father. He should have hated her, it was against everything Estelle knew of other people to not be hated for something  
  
so heinous. What was it that made him act that way, just what the hell was driving that man?   
  
Instead of asking any of these questions, Estelle followed Noah. After a few minutes of walking in silence they came across  
  
a booth set aside from the tracks. Inside there were more health drinks, and another first aid kit which Estelle used to change   
  
  
  
the dressing on Noah's numerous wounds in total silence. As the two came out of the booth, a roller coaster car came to a stop  
  
right beside them. Noah's radio was picking up static, so he and Estelle both thought another route would be best.   
  
Noah looked down, checking the new bandage on his ankle for tightness and caught a glimpse of James right below him.   
  
He was scaling the side of the roller coaster tracks, the creepy stump of his neck now more elongated as sentient   
  
worm-like creatures had replaced his lost fingers. The great knife clung inexplicably to his back, as he spotted  
  
Noah also and cimbled faster. Noah picked Estelle up, ignoring her protests as he sat her down in the car before taking   
  
two arrows and shooting them into James' ever growing neck. He only roared and moved faster, almost at the top now.   
  
Noah jumped into the roller coaster beside Estelle, the safety belts coming to life and fastening around them as   
  
the car sped off. The ride became increasingly odd, the car still falling downwards even as the track ahead of them   
  
formed a steep incline. Likewise when the track seemed to dip down into a plummet the car continued to move   
  
upwards. Estelle clung to Noah's arm very unromantically, never shutting up about what a stupid idea it was to   
  
get into the car and running instead of facing James right then and there. "Just think of it as a blind date."   
  
Noah said assuringly, receiving a kick in the knee for his lame joke. Without any warning at all, the car   
  
flew abruptly from the track, falling so fast that neither Noah nor Estelle had the breath to even scream.  
  
The car found solid matter on what seemed to be a row of parked cars, spilling over on it's side as it hit the ground  
  
and releasing it's passengers from the safety belts as the static died away. Noah climbed out, relatively unhurt.   
  
Estelle was also fine and refused Noah's hand to help her out of the car, insisting she could pull herself free   
  
without any help from such a moronic person as him. Noah spied a piece of paper that had appeared in the   
  
crash landed roller coaster, bending over the side and plucking the paper from underneath the seat.   
  
It was a map, Noah saw. The title read 'OLD SILENT HILL' and the large building that stood ahead of him  
  
and Estelle was undoubtedly Midwich Elementary School. 


	15. XV Midwich

SILENT HILL- Midwich  
  
"My God, this place hasn't changed one bit." Noah observed, standing in the reception hall   
  
of the school as he found another map for the building's interior posted to the wall.   
  
"I used to sit here, waiting for dad to come pick me up so we could go see mom together."   
  
Noah recalled, sitting down on the long oak bench as he looked the school's map over.   
  
Estelle remained standing, keeping up the silent treatment she'd been giving Noah ever since  
  
he'd kissed her. Part of him wished he hadn't done that, but another part of him was glad.   
  
Noah was completely out of ideas about what to say to her, nothing he told her seemed to   
  
sink in. It was almost like she'd said, that she was just another part of this town and   
  
had no real mind of her own to speak. But Noah couldn't believe that, Estelle spoke her   
  
mind plenty if only when he tried to get closer to her or convince her that they would be leaving   
  
together. Was all that just part of it too? Was Estelle nothing more than a sort of guide that   
  
could only help him out of danger and not a real person at all?   
  
Noah sat there looking at her for a while, pondering what the real point of her being with him was.   
  
He would never have made it even this far without her, that much he knew. But why would anyone   
  
that was a part of the town be leading him like she was? Everything else around him seemed   
  
to exist only to prevent him from going any further, perhaps this place knew him so well somehow  
  
that it had created Estelle in order to draw out his emotional side. "How long are you going to stare   
  
at me Noah?" Estelle spoke at last, as Noah slouched against the wall. "I'm tired." Noah returned,   
  
closing his eyes for a bit. "You can't quit now, idiot. You have to keep going before James catches up   
  
again." Estelle demanded, picking him up by his shoulders. Noah shrugged her away, sitting back down   
  
as her last sentence hit a nerve with him. Perhaps if Estelle wasn't real herself, some other person that   
  
was had somehow sent her to keep him going. Everytime he seemed to be slacking or slowing down   
  
Estelle sprang to life, suddenly telling him just the right things to get him moving again.   
  
But who in this town would want that? If the point of all this wasn't to slowly break him down   
  
until he lost himself and became like James, then what did any of these things have to do with anything?   
  
Estelle gasped in surprise at Noah actually refusing to go on. Noah watched her cautiously, the old   
  
suspicions from when they'd first met creeping back to him. "How come you're always helping me?"   
  
Noah asked plainly, checking his supply of shotgun rounds as his question seemed to catch her off guard.   
  
"What?" Estelle asked back, sounding hurt that Noah would imply she had alterior motives.   
  
He took out a health drink, sipping it leisurely as he let himself relax. "I mean it's spooky, don't you think?   
  
I went through all kinds of things after we got seperated at the hospital, and I got through alright.   
  
Then you show up again, and I have to damn near get my foot chopped off to stop James from hacking you up.   
  
It seems to me that you actually needed my help for a change, instead of the other way around. Something   
  
about that just doesn't add up." Estelle walked away from Noah, standing over near the double door entrance.  
  
She said nothing in her defense, as Noah started to think that perhaps not even she knew why she was helping   
  
him. Noah continued speaking on his theory, suddenly wondering just what she was doing hanging around him again.   
  
"So maybe it's true then, maybe you really are just a part of this town. Not a real person, just a figment of someone's   
  
imagination. But then why would you be helping me? This town doesn't want me going anywhere, no way no how.   
  
And if you were part of my own imagination then you wouldn't be so adversed to getting close to me, so that only   
  
leaves..." Estelle turned on her heel sharply, looking extremely angry as she crossed her arms in front of her.   
  
"Are you finished resting Noah? Because I for one would not like to be here when James or something even worse  
  
comes looking for a meal!" Noah smiled at her sudden outburst, as one more thing about her ceased to make any sense.   
  
"So go." Noah offered simply, getting comfortable on the bench and streching out. "I'll catch up after a quick nap."   
  
Noah promised, as Estelle gawked at him in disbelief. Did he really not care if something killed him while he slept?   
  
"I'll so totally leave you behind, Noah." Estelle bluffed, still hovering over him. "Figments shouldn't worry about   
  
things like other people. Or dying for that matter." Noah answered, tucking his good hand under his head as he   
  
yawned lazily. Though his eyes were closed he heard Estelle sigh heavily, as if she were swallowing her pride.  
  
"Alright, I'm afraid to go in there alone ok? Now could we please get moving?" Her voice held a heavy annoyance  
  
to it, as if he'd somehow twisted her arm and made her say it. "Ok." Noah agreed reluctantly, getting up and walking past  
  
Estelle to open the big doors. He panned around with the flashlight, marveling at how preserved everything was.   
  
The halls were just as he rememebred them being, nothing had changed. At the end of either hallway there was   
  
a door, and both were locked. Noah tried the infirmary door, and while not locked something heavy seemed to   
  
be set against it stopping anyone from entering. The reception desk at the other end of the hall was covered in books,   
  
some of them smeared with bloody handprints as if someone had been torn away from them. The office door   
  
behind the desk was open, and as Noah went inside he heard Estelle make a soft gasp behind him.   
  
The office held three dead bodies, all mutilated beyond recognition as Estelle put a hand to her mouth.   
  
"It stinks!" She declared as her hand pinched her nose, staying near the door as Noah began to investigate.  
  
He bent down next to the corpse with a hole in it's chest, as if something had exploded it from the inside.   
  
In it's gaping mouth there was a single Q-tip, soaked through with blood on one end. Noah shivered as he took  
  
it, barely having the courage to put it in his jacket pocket. "Noah.." Estelle whispered to him, as his radio   
  
began emitting static. He quickly stood, taking the shotgun firmly into his grip as he slinked back over to  
  
the doorway.   
  
Estelle had her back flat against the inside wall, looking frightened as Noah took a cautious   
  
peek into the hall. Something had just gone past, Noah had caught it out of the corner of his eye.   
  
He couldn't see what it was, but his radio was steadily producing static now so it had to be some kind   
  
of monster. As quietly as he could Noah stepped out into the hall, keeping the flashlight off and relying  
  
on the shadow moving ahead of him for guidance. It stopped suddenly, as if it sensed him.   
  
Noah pressed himself against the wall, hoping it didn't have some kind of night vision to spot him with.   
  
He heard a noise that sounded like a pig squealing softly, but more warped and eerie as if it were trapped in a  
  
metal box. It seemed to be hutning now, searching around the area unpredictably as it got closer and closer  
  
to Noah. He heard a whoosing noise, as if something were being thrown at him. He followed his first instinct  
  
to duck, as a large object lodged itself in the wall just above him. Noah turned on the flashlight, since it   
  
already knew he was here. No point in trying to fight in the dark, especially with whatever it had sensed him with   
  
working to it's advantage.   
  
Noah had been somewhat right, it was a pig. But not like any pig he'd ever met. It stood on his back legs for one thing,   
  
and wore a cheap blue tuxedo. The kind with far too many frills that went out of style in the 60's. It also had a bowtie  
  
around it's neck, and one of those old fashioned monacles that had a stick attached to the side. The pig held it up to it's eye  
  
as if it were a truly sophisticated creature, it's snout held high as it's other hand was resting in the pocket of it's dressy pants.  
  
They matched the color of the bad tuxedo perfectly, or at least Noah could see that they once had. Every inch of the   
  
pig seemed covered in blood that glistened and ran much more like some sort of oil. Noah took a glance behind him,   
  
to see what the pig had almost taken his head off with. Noah could barely believe it when he saw it was a very long fork,   
  
the handle still set in the pig's eye even though the sharper end had extended a good three feet to hit the wall.   
  
"Oh my God.." Noah blurted out, having no better words to explain what he was feeling. The huge fork retracted back into the pig's  
  
monacled eye, as it began to walk towards Noah. It seemed very dainty as it tiptoed quite well on it's hoofs. Noah couldn't   
  
figure out why it had human hands and still hoofs on it's feet, but knew already why it was here. The jocks and bullies  
  
Noah had faced in this school so many years back had always seemed to be just like the nightmarish creature he now faced.   
  
Dirty sweaty pigs underneath, but posed and gussied up to be counted among the decent people. And the fork, of course   
  
the fork was easy. The one jock that had pushed him too far, and had received Noah's lunch fork in his eye as a result.   
  
  
  
"This place sure picks the weirdest memories.." Noah muttered, as the pig kept advancing on him. It punched him hard in the   
  
gut, as Noah staggered back away from the gruesome creature. It could not have been more than 4 feet tall, but it's blow   
  
hit Noah hard enough so that all the sweet berry juice of the health drinks threatened to come back up for a minute.   
  
Two gunshots rang out, as the pig stopped and turned it's attention to Estelle. The gun Noah had found in the hospital   
  
was back in her hands, as she leaned against the office doorway. Noah looked from Estelle to the pig and back again   
  
in disbelief, as the pig seemed unaffected. 'Kill it Noah!" Estelle shouted in confusion, as the monster oinked ghoulish laughter.  
  
It's snout tipped up as it did so, showing it's sharp and mishapen teeth as it's mouth hung open with amusement.   
  
If bullets can't kill this thing, we're fucked, Noah thought. The pig resumed it's stalking of Estelle, walking by Noah without even   
  
looking at him. Noah slowly turned, making no sudden moves as Estelle was frozen in fear. She watched the pig close in on her,  
  
breathing rapidly with a high pitched sound as Noah saw the creature's back. Instead of the neatly pressed tux and pants,   
  
a bloody tank top too small for the creature's body seemed to blend into the clothing on it's front. Ripped denim jeans  
  
covered the back of it's legs, melting into the fancy suit pants in the same way. All of a sudden, Noah jumped onto the pig   
  
punching it in the head repeatedly as it flailed. The long piece of silverware kept in it's eye was useless at such close range,   
  
or so Noah had hoped. The fork came shooting out of the pig's monacle again, this time curving as it moved to stab   
  
directly into Noah's swollen wrist. He fell to the unforgiving linoleum and landed on his ass, feeling weak as the fork   
  
stuck itself in a little deeper. The pig made slurping noises, as Noah reailzed the fork must have somehow been hollow  
  
like a mosquito's needle. It was sucking his blood away. Noah fought hard to keep his eyes from rolling back in his head,   
  
as Estelle called out to him. He couldn't let it take anymore of his blood, he'd already lost too much. He had to do something.  
  
The damned pig seemed to agree, glaring as the flashlight cast a hideous glow against the monacle. It seemed to be taunting  
  
him in the same way all those bullies and jocks had. It seemed to say "Come on, wimp. You had better do something fast, or   
  
you'er going to die." Noah couldn't argue that he most likely was, and although the bullets from Estelle's gun had been useless  
  
Noah rasied his shotgun determined to make the unsightly demon work for tonight's dinner. 


	16. XVI Bathtub

SILENT HILL- Bathtub  
  
Noah tried to stand up and face the advacning monster, but simply couldn't. He could barely even lift the shotgun now,   
  
it felt as if it were bolted to the floor. He pulled the trigger twice, as the kick from the discharge sent it flying out of   
  
his hand. The creepy pig actually stopped, crying out in pain as it bled from it's stomach. From several places the shotgun   
  
had torn through it. Noah was shocked that the gun had done so much damage, or any for that matter. After all he'd   
  
seen Estelle shoot the handgun with his own eyes, even if she wasn't a good shot she'd been too close not to hit it.   
  
Yet the shotgun had done the damage Noah would have expected it to do normally, which made no sense.   
  
He felt his strength come back slowly, as the pig made a gurgling sound and slumped to the floor.   
  
It's forklike bloodsucker was still protruding from Noah's wrist, he pulled it out and threw it spitefully at the   
  
defeated creature as he tried again to stand, sucessfully this time. "What the fuck...I saw you shoot it.."   
  
Noah questioned, looking over at Estelle. She was gawking down at the fallen monster, shaking her head   
  
as she suddenly gave it a hard kick in the face. Noah walked over to her, his eyes glaring first at the pig and making  
  
sure it was dead. His glare then switched to Estelle, as Noah grabbed her hand and wrestled the handgun from her.   
  
"No! Don't!" Estelle shouted at him, giving him a frightened look as he ejected the clip from her gun. He eyed the bullets  
  
suspiciously, locking his eyes on Estelle's face as he slapped the clip back into the gun and leveled it at her chest.   
  
"Noah...?" Estelle whimpered, seeming so scared that her eyes would have been wide. Noah pulled the trigger,   
  
feeling a lump in his throat as the shot rang out. He fired twice more, gritting his teeth angrily as he felt ready to cry himself.  
  
Estelle slid slowly to the floor, her head hung low as her hands covered her face. She made sobbing sounds as if she really were  
  
crying, Noah wouldn't have doubted it a bit. Except that it was now clear Estelle was very good at acting, and was hiding a lot more  
  
than Noah had ever expected. He let the gun's clip slide out, tucking the handgun in the back of his pants as he crouched down   
  
in front of Estelle, who remained curled up against the wall sobbing softly. Noah remained silent, taking the bullets from the   
  
magazine one by one and letting them clatter to the floor. He reached into his pocket, opening a box of bullets from his supply  
  
and refilling the clip, taking the gun from his pants and sliding the clip back into it. The gun stayed in his hand this time as   
  
Noah looked sadly at Estelle, crouching lower and taking her hands away from her face. "I think you better start explaning."  
  
Noah ordered, not in a forceful or threatening tone but plain and serious, imparting that the matter needed immediate attention.   
  
Estelle slowly raised her head, she looked almost like a small animal cornered by a larger predator. "Just shoot me already."  
  
She insisted, not moving an inch. Noah was rather surprised at her, was that really what she wanted?   
  
"I'm not gonna shoot you." Noah refused, taking a deep breath as he placed the gun on the floor beside Estelle.   
  
"But I am going to have to ask you to explain this." Noah continued, keeping his voice low and grave. It wasn't as if he   
  
wasn't angry or anything, hell he was more than angry he was furious with her. But that didn't necesarily mean anything  
  
had to be done about it right now, and killing her would deny him the answers she obviously held.   
  
"I'm not explaining anything so you might as well do it Noah, if you even have the balls." Estelle spat back at him,   
  
still refusing to move. "I think after all this I've at least earned a little fucking cooperation from you!" Noah shouted,   
  
losing his composure as he stood up and began pacing with frustration. Estelle fliched at his harsh words, but remained   
  
curled up against the doorway. "You don't need me to figure it out, you're smart enough by yourself." Estelle offered,   
  
turning her head away from him. Noah glared at her, wanting to wring her neck until she talked. But that was   
  
the old Noah, the one who'd been throwing his life away all this time, the one who'd forced a frienship out of James  
  
and started this whole mess in Silent HIll to begin with. The foolish person he really was still wanted to get Estelle out of here.   
  
"Ok Estelle, then I'll talk." Noah stated, leaning against a wall and kicking the dead pig away from him as he opened  
  
another health drink. "You just tell me if I'm right or wrong, got it?" Noah asked, taking a sip of the overly sweet juice   
  
and nearly choking. Estelle said nothing, but sat up and little and turned her head back to him. Noah took it as the closest  
  
to a yes he would get from her, and began the telling of his theory. The radio was silent once again, so it was safe to   
  
take a break. "First of all, I would assume that those blanks have been in that handgun since you found me in the hospital,  
  
since you wouldn't have put them in while I was gone and you had only the gun to defend yourself with. I was so drugged up   
  
that I wouldn't notice the bullets were all duds as long as they were in the gun, right?" Noah looked over at   
  
Estelle, who gazed back at him with shut eyes and nodded once. Noah nodded back, continuing as he drank.   
  
"But then why would you try and give that gun back to me right before we got seperated? That would leave you   
  
with no weapons at all, and in a place like this I find it hard to believe you'd be quite that generous. Unless, you   
  
had nothing to fear from all these damned monsters. They won't attack you if you're not with me, will they?"   
  
Noah stopped again, watching Estelle as she shook her head slowly. Noah nodded, his mind working hard to   
  
unravel all the events and make sense of them. "So then, when I found you with James about to make sushi out of you  
  
that was a setup wasn't it? He wants to kill me, not you. But James sure seemed serious enough about it,   
  
which makes no sense. Unless someone else is pulling his strings and yours too. That about the size and shape?"   
  
Noah asked, as Estelle nodded again. She coughed dryly, swallowing as she took deep breaths. Noah walked over to her,   
  
dropping a health drink in her lap. Estelle looked up at him in shock, but Noah was already walking away as he continued  
  
his rant. "Ok so that would bring us to why someone would set something like that up, why make it look like James   
  
was going to kill you? Was it just to see how I'd react? To see if I'd even bother to stop him from gutting you like a fish?"   
  
Estelle nodded again, whispering a soft 'yes' as she opened the health drink and gulped some down.   
  
Noah's eyes widened, he wasn't expecting that to be the way of it at all. It posed too many things that Noah didn't   
  
see as being possible. Unless, yes of course this whole thing was all about him somehow. Noah had no clue what   
  
made him so special as to put him in the center of all the cloak and dagger buisiness, but it was apparently true.   
  
"Ok, so." Noah continued, pacing slowly. "It's all about me then, the same person who put blanks in my gun while I was out  
  
staged that whole thing with James, because I know by now it wasn't you who did that, it was someone else who didn't want you   
  
having access to a weapon. And why lead me to James? So I'd blow his head off? That doesn't fit, but it doesn't make any sense to go   
  
through all that trouble just to see what I'd do. Not a damn bit of sense. But...Maybe my reaction wasn't the point at all, maybe the   
  
important thing was what James would do.." Noah stopped in midsentence, turning back to Estelle and raising an eyebrow as she   
  
nodded again. Noah's heartbeat sped up a little, as he realized just how far this whole thing was reaching.   
  
He kept voiceing his ideas as he pondered, eyes wide with disbelief. "Right, so someone actually wanted James to see me save   
  
you, and confront him over it. The way he remembers me, I never would've done it. I would have stood there and let him   
  
chop you up..Christ I'm such a bastard...So now James knows that I've been rethinking things with him and me,   
  
and probably knows I can't pretend I'm like him anymore. But that still doesn't explain why someone would want him after me,   
  
what do they want me to do? What do they think I'm going to do when I meet him again?" Estelle stood up slowly,   
  
breaking her silence as she picked up the handgun. "Just what you did do Noah, blow his head off. You said yourself   
  
there's someone pulling his strings." Noah turned to stare at Estelle in shock, briefly eyeing the gun in her hand.   
  
She wouldn't shoot, Noah couldn't believe she'd kill him. At least not yet. "And yours." Noah corrected, meeting her invisible  
  
gaze as he continued. "But let's get back to you, Estelle. If James was supossed to see me turn his back on him,   
  
then you were supossed to do nothing, you were supossed to let me stop him instead. And even if you wanted to you couldn't   
  
have shot him, your gun was full of blanks. You needed me and my weapons to come bursting in before you could   
  
get away from him and lead me here, which leaves us with two questions. Why does someone want   
  
James and I to go at it, and where are you leading me. Because it's obvious you are leading me   
  
through all this, whether it's of your own free will or not. My money's on not." Noah tilted his head to the side,  
  
as Estelle looked down in shame. "You're right, heh, of course you would be.." Estelle confessed, standing in   
  
front of Noah as she stared at the floor. "What am I right about?" Noah begged, stepping closer to Estelle  
  
as she sighed sadly. "Come on Estelle, damnit I can't get us out of here unless you tell me what you know."   
  
Estelle looked up suddenly, as Noah's sentence made her jump. "Why are you still worried about me?!" Estelle  
  
screamed loudly, sounding as confused and she did sorrowful. "You tell me first." Noah insisted, folding his arms   
  
over each other as he leaned against the wall and waited. Estelle scowled at him, tightening her hand around the handgun.   
  
Noah saw it but didn't move, she wasn't going to shoot him. She wasn't even here of her own free will and there  
  
had to be someone she wanted to shoot a lot more than some sap who'd been suckered into coming here. Most likely  
  
the same person that was to blame for both their situations. Noah pursed his lips impatiently, as Estelle's face quivered  
  
with a nervous facial tick. Noah found it strangely attractive, the quirk distracting him for a moment as Estelle began to   
  
speak. "I can't tell you much, Noah." She said shakily, as if she were struggling with something within herself.   
  
"But to answer your questions, James is out of control. Even 'he' doesn't have any power over him anymore.   
  
What you saw was real Noah, James would have killled me. And that would have been fine for 'him' too,   
  
I wasn't even supossed to get this far." Noah cringed at the angst and sadness in Estelle's voice, as she came clean with   
  
him for the first time. "And as for where we're going, I was put here to make sure you didn't get yourself killed  
  
before you met James, before you had a chance to kill James for him. It's funny, even 'he' never thought you'd   
  
run from James. He had high hopes you'd kill him right off, and then he wouldn't need either of us anymore."  
  
Noah stepped closer, until he was toe to toe with Estelle. "Why does he need me though? What the hell is   
  
so special to James about me? He never liked me, even when I was a sorry jackass just like him! What could   
  
I possibly do to him that this guy who's using the both of you can't just as well do himself?!"   
  
Noah realized full well he was freaking out on Estelle, but he couldn't help it. That one part of all this didn't fit  
  
in anywhere. He was not special, at all. This 'him' whoever he was must have made some kind of mistake.   
  
"I can't tell you anymore Noah, I mean...I don't know anymore than that.." Estelle looked apologetic as she   
  
continued to look at the floor. Noah sighed, looking at her even though she refused to look at him.   
  
"Here." He said, putting his arms around her waist. Estelle began to protest about being hugged, but Noah   
  
had already snuck the box of handgun bullets into her back pocket and withdrawn his arms.   
  
"Let's find a way out of here." Noah said kindly, smiling genuinely and kissing her cheek before turning   
  
around and walking down the hallway. Estelle whimpered a compliant before following, as once again Noah   
  
had her completely baffled. "Noah.." She called softly, as he examined the blood covered books strewn   
  
all over the reception desk. "What is it?" Noah said without looking up, absorbed in his search for clues.   
  
The only two books he hadn't skimmed through or deemed useless yet were collections of fairy tales,   
  
dark and gothic tales in the same taste as the really old grimm fairy tales where the villian always meets  
  
the most horrible end imaginable. One of the collections was authored by a 'Leonard Woof' while the other  
  
was by a fellow named 'Leonard Whine'. Noah suspected the clue lay somewhere with the similar names,   
  
and browsed the tales. In one book, a story about a little girl who's parents were eaten by the proverbial  
  
thing under the bed was incomplete. The last two pages had been ripped out, leaving only a small ragged piece  
  
with the letter 'L.'. Noah took a look at the other book, finding a tale of another little girl who was eaten by a   
  
mysterious ghoul living under her parent's bed. The last few pages of it were also torn out, only one small piece of   
  
the text remained and had only a single letter on it, 'W.'. "Tricky little bastards.." Noah said sarcastically,   
  
placing the two books closer together so that the two ripped sections were side by side. 'L.W.', being the initials  
  
of both authors. It was cute in it's own pointless way, but didn't provide anything Noah could use.   
  
"Noah.." Estelle called again, coming up behind him. "What is it Estelle, I'm trying to think." Noah replied,   
  
studying the books closely. His gaze slowly panned around the room as he searched with the flashlight.   
  
Against the left wall was a filing cabinet, the small drawers akin to the ones found in libraries that contained   
  
records of all the books. Also like those, the drawers all had two letters printed on the front to show which records  
  
were kept in what drawer. Amusingly and coming as no surprise to him at this point, one of the drawers   
  
was labeled 'L-W', a sorrid mismatch since there were two drawers labeled 'K-M' and 'S-W'.   
  
"Noah!" Estelle demanded impatiently, slapping him on the back as he pulled open the 'L-W' drawer.   
  
"What is it Estelle?!" Noah said irritably, turning to face her. "I have to pee, can you please hurry up?"   
  
She said, blushing slightly as she looked away from him. Noah raised an eyebrow, expecting anything   
  
but such a normal request from her. Before he could answer her, a childlike hand covered in dirt and blood  
  
sprang forth from the opened drawer and slashed Noah bewteen his shoulder blades with a straight razor.   
  
"Mother...Fucker!" Noah yelled in pain, one hand going back to the wound as the other raised his shotgun.   
  
He whirled around and took a deafening shot at the hand as it swiftly pulled the drawer shut behind it.   
  
Noah had missed, the damned thing had gotten away clean. Children's laughter echoed through the empty hall as   
  
Noah thankfully found the wound wasn't very deep. "Oh God you..! Come out here and try that again you   
  
miserable dirty bitch!" Noah shouted at the top of his lungs, punching against the filing cabinet as Estelle   
  
sighed impatiently. Of course, Noah realized how foolish he'd been to open that one in the first place. If you were  
  
looking for L or W you wouldn't open a drawer with both letters, it had been the lamest of tricks.   
  
"When I find the little shit that comes up with these fucking booby traps, I swear to God.." Noah grumbled,   
  
pulling open the drawer marked 'K-M' as he held his shotgun mere inches from it. He wasn't going to get caught   
  
by another trap if he could help it. The drawer opened without incident, and inside there was nothing but a large screw.   
  
Opening the 'S-W' drawer produced a small brass key, and Noah pocketed both items.   
  
"I have to pee as well, dear." Noah bitterly answered Estelle at last,   
  
muttering as he tried the key on the locked door at the nearer end of the hallway. It clicked and opened   
  
with a hair raising creak, and beyond almost too conveniently were the restrooms.   
  
Noah exchanged a slight smile of relief with Estelle, as they headed to their respetive bathrooms.   
  
Noah opened the door, stepped inside and gasped as a fierece wind blew into his face. He wasn't in a bathroom   
  
at all, he was on the roof. The very edge of the roof to be exact, where some pipe or plumbing must have been   
  
stopped up because Noah was now standing in no less than 2 feet of water. Dirty water, to be precise. Most likely   
  
toilet water. He gulped in disgust as a sokaed envelope floated by, surrounded by several mounds of something   
  
Noah wasn't about to inspect for anything. Oddly, the envelope although empty had a woman's name he couldn't   
  
quite make out written on the front. Noah quickly opened the door again, stepping inside and preparing for the worst.   
  
It actually seemed to be a bathroom this time, even though technically he should have just stepped out of the bathroom  
  
and back into the hallway. It looked more like the bathroom of a fancy hotel room though, with a large bathtub/shower  
  
behind him and a mirror that sat atop a cosmetics table. Noah stood facing the toilet, unzipping cautiously  
  
as he took a look at the mirror. The face of his old friend and current rival, James Sunderland leered hauntingly  
  
back at him, startling him almost as completely as the toilet seat which fell a half second later with the weight of an   
  
anvil. Noah jumped back, tucking his manhood away possesively and slipped on the floor that was now slick with   
  
the same disgustingly filthy brown water he'd seen on the roof. Noah flailed as he backpeddled clumsily, falling   
  
into the bathtub and hitting his head on the hard porcelin. The momentary dizziness only added to his rising fear  
  
as the bathtub quickly filled with blood raining down from the showerhead. Noah tried to call out to Estelle, tried  
  
to scream, and tried to pull himself from the bathtub as he began to drown. He failed on all counts, as his breath   
  
came in weakening bubble streams. As his consciousness faded, the same thought of throughly killing whoever  
  
planned these mockingly cruel events resurfaced in his mind, as he briefly saw James with a new, disfigured   
  
and puss covered head standing over the tub. The last image Noah caught was the great knife bearing down on him. 


	17. XVII Reginald

SILENT HILL- Reginald  
  
Noah awoke underwater, instantly freaking as he fought to swim before his air ran out.  
  
His head exploded through the surface of the water, choking and spitting out liquid as he   
  
found himself in the middle of a lake. There was fog everywhere, he couldn't see a thing.   
  
Noah treaded water easily, getting his breath back in big puffs as he looked around.   
  
There was a faint, eerie light off in one direction. Noah swam towards it, wondering for a moment   
  
how his bow and quiver and shotgun were all still with him after all that. The shotgun made it   
  
difficult to swim with that hand, but somehow his body seemed to glide along with little effort.   
  
The gentle current was slowly moving him towards the mysterious light, as Noah swam lopsided   
  
through the water. After a few minutes he reached a pier, where he saw the light had come from  
  
a tall lamppost placed at the pier's edge. Before him was the Lakeside Hotel, where wet looking  
  
footprints led the way inside indicating that someone had arrived here ahead of him.   
  
Noah slowly pulled himself from the lake, resting on the pier for a minute before continuing on  
  
into the hotel. He observed the scenery as he went past, the whole front yard of the hotel was   
  
like a garden. There were lots of neatly maintained shrubs and hedges, and twin marble fountains  
  
on either side of the slate walkway that led up to the hotel's front door. Noah stopped at one of the   
  
fountains, sipping some of the clean water from it and welcoming the refreshing change from the sweet  
  
health drinks. As Noah opened the door of the hotel, everything appeared normal. The radio was silent,   
  
he saw nothing moving nor any signs of life save the wet footprints stretching out and leading the way.   
  
His shoes sloshed noisily, as he walked through the hotel's first floor. The footsteps led down a set of stairs  
  
to the basement floor, turning the corner of the hallway and stopping at a small metal door. 'Sports Bar'   
  
was the title etched on the door's rasied wooden tile, and Noah made sure the shotgun was ready as he opened  
  
the door slowly. Inside was more ordinary scenery, at least for a bar. The counter formed a large L shape at one side  
  
of the room. the other side being full of tables with chairs placed upside down on them. Soft jazz was playing   
  
on a radio, and in the middle of it all sitting on a barstool with a glass of red wine set in front of him was a man.   
  
A tall man, taller than Noah by at least a full twelve inches. He wasn't exactly thin, but in no way was he overwight  
  
either. Noah could only say that he was a little chubby, not muscual or fit but still shy of having the appearance of   
  
a complete slob. His black and beady eyes peered at Noah from over his mustache, thin and a little curly at the ends.   
  
His hair was matted down and all combed to the front, giving him a very weasely apparance. His face held many wrinkles   
  
and he wore an old, victorian style shirt with puffed sleeves, half buttoned and tucked into khaki pants. The most horrible taste in dress   
  
Noah could have imagined a person having. His tan loafers completed the look, as the man took his feet from the stool beside him   
  
where they had been resting. The man smiled invitingly at Noah, pushing the barstool out a little and gesturing for Noah to sit.   
  
Noah didn't, and stayed standing in his spot near the door. He wanted a quick exit to be available if this man was who   
  
he thought it might be. "Sit, Noah. You've nothing to fear here, this place is perfectly safe." The man assured him  
  
in a jolly voice, as if he were trying to sell Noah on buying the place or something. "I haven't seen one damn safe place since  
  
I came to this town." Noah answered back sharply, leaning against the door. The man clapped briefly, chuckling with his   
  
high, nasal voice as he nodded and grinned. Noah almost laughed with him, just because the man's appearnce and mannerisms  
  
were so outlandish. He was like a cartoon character, Dirk Dastardly came to Noah's mind almost immeidately.   
  
"Who are you?" Noah asked boldly, watching the man as well as everything in the room very carefully.  
  
"I am Reginald, Reginald Laporte at your service young Noah. We have much to talk about, you and I."   
  
The man replied willingly, leaning over the bar and reaching   
  
down under it with one hand. Noah pointed the shotgun, thinking Reginald was going for some hidden weapon. His nasally,   
  
high pitched laughter rose again as his hand came back with an empty glass to show Noah. He filled it with beer from a pitcher  
  
beside him, and slid the glass down the bar to Noah who eyed it cautiously as it came towards him. A soon as it was close  
  
Noah slapepd the glass away rather crazily, and kicked the offered barstool across the room. Reginald cringed slightly,   
  
yelping as Noah stood in front of him like a madman ready to kill. "Not really in a talking mood, Reggie." Noah spat back,  
  
half out of his mind for some strange reason. "I'm in much more of a stand here and listen while you tell me what you're doing here,  
  
kind of mood. " Reginald nooded agrreably, still sporting that car salesman grin. Noah had no idea why he'd burst out like that,   
  
but it had felt pretty good. Perhaps this town was finally starting to get to him, especially after that little bathroom scene and   
  
coming very close to a free circumcision it was only to be expected. He was already sick of Reginald's lackadasial way of   
  
talking, as if the man had no clue how crazy the rest of the town was or what was going on in it. "Very well." Reginald answered  
  
reluctantly as he stood up. Noah kept an eye on him, as he walked around the bar and to the door Noah had come in  
  
just a few moments ago. Reginald opened it, stepping through into a cushy hotel room. He held the door as Noah followed  
  
him, bewildered by the sudden change. Reginald took his seat at the room's desk, opening the drawers and sifting through  
  
the neatly organized contents. "I imagine you've already met my neice, I trust she has been at least some help to you?"   
  
Reginald asked suddenly, throwing Noah completely off. "She's your neice?" Noah blurted out, eyes widening.   
  
Noah's mind replayed all Estelle had said about her family being part of some cult, and that they were somehow behind   
  
all of this stuff happening in Silent HIll. But did Reginald know he was at least that well informed? Noah deiced it would   
  
be best to play a little dumb, and see what Reginald knew before he told the tall man anything.   
  
"Yes she is, the bothersome little thing." Reginald continued, finally removing his hand from the desk and bringing a broken sort   
  
of half circle with it. "I trust she was able to keep you from getting too banged up on your way here, can't have you dying  
  
just yet you know." Noah nodded stupidly, as Reginald confirmed part of what Estelle had said. "She sures knows her way  
  
around this place.." Noah replied, hoping that Reginald could be fooled just a little longer. "Yes she certainly does at that, amazing  
  
gift that girl's got, simply amazing." Reginald agreed whimsically, holding the broken looking half circle out to Noah.   
  
Noah eyed it and Reginald suspiciously, watching the mustached stranger's every move as he slowly stepped close enough   
  
to take the object from his hand. Noah held it in his palm, looking quizzically at it. The greater part of it was black, with   
  
three small circles surrounded by a larger cirlce and arcahic writhings. Though the broken item had only half the design,   
  
seeming to have been seperated from his other half directly in the middle.   
  
The edge of it had no sharpness or raggedness to it, suggesting it had been broken intentionally with some kind of tool.   
  
"I wonder if you could perhaps tell me what that is your holding there." Reginald questioned, striking a match and holding it to   
  
an old corncobb pipe. Noah strained to recall, as the trinket brought back flashes of memories he hadn't even been aware of.   
  
He'd seen in before, the other half perhaps after it had been broken. He couldn't remember anymore than that, the   
  
memories were hazy and dark, as if he were wandering in a cave with no flashlight. Reginald was watching Noah's   
  
reaction intensely, seeming excited as Noah stared at the broken item. "I can't remember..." Noah said at last,   
  
handing the object back to Reginald. "I suspect that you will, in time." Reginald assured him, taking the object back and   
  
placing it in the desk drawer. Their eyes met as the object changed hands, and Noah saw something deviuosly evil within the   
  
tall man. "So then, why don't you tell me what it is already?" Noah demanded, suddenly on the top of his guard.   
  
Reginald smiled knowingly at him, blowing a ring of smoke as his pipe filled the room with the smell of tobacco.   
  
"Indeed, you're much smarter than one might think at first glance." Reginald complimented, crossing his legs as he turned  
  
to face Noah. "That, Noah my boy is what is referred to as the halo of the sun, or the mark of god according to many local   
  
religions my own included. This particular artifact is very very old, and very..Powerful." Reginald spoke the last word  
  
as if it were the main focus of his speech, Noah understood a little bit more now. The religious cults around here   
  
were trying to gain some kind of power from the broken stone and somehow they had mistakenly tied it all in with   
  
him. "Go on." Noah insisted, still wary of the shady man as he continued his history lesson.   
  
"Several hundred years ago Noah, this artifact was the ultimate sign of rulership over the religious cults. In other words,   
  
this stone was believed to be delivered by god to the one whom she chose as her earthly liason. Whoever posessed it   
  
was as blessed by the old spirits of this town as god herself, and their word was most certain to become the new law.  
  
However, it is said that a unworthy came to possess this great power, and the death and suffering he wrought with the   
  
legions of hell at his command forced god to descend to Earth and cleanse his hateful wickedness. She cleaved the stone   
  
in twine, and there in the ruins of the town it stayed for many years until it was unearthed by my great grandfather."   
  
Reginald gazed proudly at Noah, as if he expected him to be shocked. Noah only smirked, scratching his head.   
  
"Family heirloom, then?" Noah said sarcastically, producing a scowl on Reginald's hairy face.   
  
"More than you could comprehend, boy." Reginald returned, smoking from his pipe as he lectured.  
  
"You see for three generations now my family has posessed one half of this stone, bringing great power to our   
  
bloodline. As such we have a certain power of persuation over the demons of this town still honoring this ancient   
  
symbol of their god. And for all that time my family has sought the other half, and total control over Silent HIll   
  
and all it's secrets. I myself have done much research into the alternate world, I'm sure you know of what I speak."  
  
Noah nodded straight faced, not taking any of it too seriously. Reginald nodded back, smirking as he talked on.   
  
"It's truly a wonder, that place. It has it own set of rules and laws that revolve around the person traveling through it   
  
as I'm sure you've experienced yourself by now. But as long as I hold this stone, I can bend those rules or even break them."  
  
Noah nodded, stifling a yawn. "Ok Reggie, that's real interesting and all but I just want to know what all this has to do with me.  
  
I was never part of any cult, I'm just some guy who used to live here. But a lot of people used to live here, so why me?"   
  
Reginald shook his finger at Noah, laughing that high pitched giggle again as he smoothed his mustache over with his finger.   
  
"Noah, you disapoint me." he said sternly, the smartass grin still on his face. "It's true many people have lived here, but  
  
you alone were the holder of the other half of this stone, and it's also you that befriended James Sunderland. He was   
  
the only part of this town I couldn't control with the stone's power. His history with you has put him beyond the power  
  
I once had over him. He's rampant now Noah, and thanks to your heroic efforts he won't stop until you are dead."   
  
Noah gritteed his teeth in rage, raising the shotgun. "But you set that up!" Noah shouted at Reginald, wanting to pull the trigger   
  
so badly that it hurt. Reginald laughed again, enraging Noah even further. "Yes, I did didn't I? But of course I couldn't leave it   
  
up to my neice, little Estelle has grown up to be such a rebellious thing you see." Noah brought the shotgun across Reginald's   
  
head, hitting him hard enough to draw blood. "Oh yes, kill me and you'll never get out of here Noah." Reginald said spitefully,   
  
removing a handkerchief from his pocket and holding it to his head. "I never had any fucking stone you old bastard, you have got   
  
the wrong guy!" Noah shouted again, still holding the shotgun on the elder man. "Oh no, there's no mistake about it Noah."   
  
Reginald argued, breathing hard as he sat on the building anger Noah insipired within him. "I still remember it well, the day   
  
Estelle's mother called me on the phone and told me that her daughter had brought the other half of the stone home with her.  
  
Some kind little boy had given it to her as a token of friendship. It was quite an extravagant gift for a 6 year old Noah,   
  
I really must thank you." Noah sat down on the bed as memories suddenly came back to him. It was impossible, there was  
  
no way in hell...But as Noah's head began to pound he started to rememeber that day himself, and could only stare at   
  
Reginald as the man looked into his eyes and nodded. "And this Noah, is where the plot thickens." Reginald said   
  
victoriously, leaning closer as air raid sirens rang out in the distance. 


	18. XVIII Into The Basement

SILENT HILL- Into The Basement   
  
The air raid sirens rang out piercingly, as Noah's head began to ache. The bed was now soaking wet with blood,   
  
as free roaming clots of it moved around him. Reginald stood calmly, acting as nonchalant as a man out in the   
  
spring taking in the fresh air. Something under the bed or perhaps inside it began moving, as Noah was  
  
thrown off and to the floor. The matress jumped, as the impression of someone's face pressed into it for a moment.   
  
Noah's jaw hung open in shock, it really looked like someone was trapped in the matress and trying to get out.   
  
"Do you want it to stop, Noah?" Reginald asked deviously, smiling down at him. Noah couldn't take his eyes from the matress,   
  
as the walls and floor began changing into a hard metal like all the other times the alternate world had taken over.   
  
"Noah, do you want it to stop?" Reginald asked louder, as the matress flung itself from the bed and landed on top of Noah.   
  
Whatever was inside stretched the fabric as much as it could, the details of it's face showing through as it struggled.   
  
It's hand were pushing to get free now also, as basic physics again gave way to this strange place. The hands and face seemed  
  
to meld with the very structure of the matress, protruding out as it's hands clawed at Noah. He screamed in terror, unable to   
  
take his eyes from the creature as Reginald loomed over the both of them. "Do you want it to stop Noah?!" Reginald shouted,   
  
a strange kind of madman's grin on his face as Noah tried desperately to fight the bed monster off. "Yes!!" Noah screamed,   
  
as the monster raked it's fingers along his chest. Reginald nodded, closing his eyes and smiling darkly as he whispered something  
  
Noah couldn't understand before waving his hand. Suddenly, the matress was normal again, still on top of him but normal.   
  
The sirens returned momentarily, as the blood soaked metallic scenery faded back into the normal peeling wallpaper of the   
  
eerie hotel room. Noah lay there on the floor, heaving the matress away as he stared up at Reginald in disbelief. The elder   
  
man gazed down at him, smiling and nodding as if to say 'I told you so'. "Do I even want to know how the hell you did that?"   
  
Noah pondered aloud in a suspicious voice. Once again he found himself completely clueless about Silent HIll.   
  
The things he'd come to understand about it were all built on the basis that the alternate world was full of his own   
  
figments and demons, taking things from his own subconscious and warping them. Yet Reginald had seemingly brought  
  
the alternate world in and taken it back out at will, just to show off. That shouldn't have been possible. Reginald sat down regally   
  
in his chair, crossing his legs and relighting his pipe. "Regardless of whether you want to know,   
  
I believe I've told you enough for now." Reginald refused, as Noah slowly stood up.   
  
"So what happens next?"   
  
Noah asked cautiously, his guard more tensed and ready than ever. Reginald gave a complimentary smirk to Noah,   
  
nodding in satisfaction. 'Always straight to buisiness Noah, I like that about you. It shows character." He stated,  
  
as Noah detected a strange scent building in the room. Whatever Reginald had in his pipe, it didn't smell like any   
  
tobacco Noah had ever heard of. Even so, watching Reginald take leisurely hits from the pipe was amplifying   
  
Noah's growing need for a cigarette. It had been two days now since his last one while waiting for the taxi   
  
that had taken him to Silent Hill. "Could I...Do you have any cigarettes?" Noah asked sheepishly, feeling moronic  
  
asking for anything so mainstream in such a bizzare situation. Reginald chuckled in that high pitched voice again,   
  
summing up every classic villianous stereotype all at once as he grinned at Noah. "Why yes my boy, it just so happens that I do."  
  
Reginald answered, reaching into the desk again. He produced a pack of unmarked cigarettes and tossed them lightly  
  
into Noah's greedily waiting hand. The outside package was plain white, with no markings or designs of any kind.   
  
Noah brought his gaze back up from his hand to face Reginald, and caught only a glimpse of the shady old frenchman   
  
as the world around Noah became hazy and surreal. When Noah's eyes focused again, he was in a bathroom.   
  
There was chain link everywhere, red drops of blood and sticky pieces of flesh fell from the ceiling as he looked around.   
  
There was only one door in the cramped room, and it looked most uninviting. The rusted metal was crawling with   
  
animate pools of blood, and Noah had to close his eyes as he took hold of the handle. To his surprise, the door swung up.  
  
Noah's weight tipped him forward and he fell through the horizontal doorframe, rolling safely to the floor on the other side.   
  
There was a sharp scream, sounding strangely familiar to him as he rose to his feet. The hallway was as he'd thought,   
  
rusted chain link as far as the eye could see. About three feet to his left the hallway was closed off, a large unmovable  
  
fence blocking any passage. Tied to the fence with barbed wire was a cadaver, skinned and seemingly bled out.   
  
It's bound limbs quivered unspeakably, turning Noah's stomach as he moved away from the fence. He explored the other   
  
end of the hallway, wondering for a moment how he now had all of his equipment with him again. As he shined the flashlight   
  
in front of him, the hallway ended and to the left was a staircase. He heard another scream, this time recognizing it as   
  
Estelle's voice. It was coming from beyond the stairs, and as Noah started down them he noticed a strange ambient  
  
hum that grew louder as he descended. A metal tile screwed into the wall beside him advertised that he was on the 2nd   
  
floor moving down to the 1st. Once down the staircase, Noah saw a bloody trail leading down the hallway. He felt a lump  
  
grow in his throat as he worried for Estelle. Could Reginald have somehow changed the alternate world in such a way that   
  
the monsters would attack her too? Noah began to run, following the trail and keeping the flashlight shining as far ahead  
  
of him as the worn down batteries would allow. This hallway like the last, was also blocked at the halfway point by a fence  
  
littered with ragged parts of something that used to be human. Noah marked the obstruction down on the map, and   
  
studied it until he found a room that would reach around the fence and take him to the other side. He also noticed   
  
that he was holding a map for the school, meaning Reginald had dropped him right back where he'd been.   
  
Noah opened the door to his right, handgun ready as he panned the flashlight around the long classroom.   
  
The blool trail had ended at the fence out in the hallway, which meant either the scattered remains he'd found were  
  
Estelle's, or that the blood had never been hers at all. Noah hoped desperately for the latter, whirling around as   
  
he could have sworn he heard something. The classroom appeared empty, and Noah continued walking, picking  
  
his way through the desks lined up uniformly to face the big chalkboard at the head of the room. As he approached,   
  
Noah could see something written on it. "Another fucking riddle, are you shitting me?" Noah griped out loud, turning around  
  
swiftly as he was sure he'd heard something behind him this time. Noah moved the flashlight around, spotting a small   
  
rag doll about five feet away from him. It was toddling slowly towards him, every so often letting loose with a piercing shriek.   
  
It sounded exactly like the ones he'd thought were from Estelle, and felt sure it had been a trap. A trap he'd most stupidly walked into.  
  
The little doll looked pretty helpless, almost pitiful, one button eye torn out and hanging loose as it stumbled along on shredded  
  
legs that held no toes, likewise it's rounded arms had no hands. The small stitch line that served as a mouth twitched slightly,   
  
as if the poor little thing was trying to cry. As it neared him, the doll became redder, bleeding from unseen wounds until it left red stump   
  
prints in it's wake. Noah ignored it for a moment, turning back to the chalkboard. In large, childlike scribbles,   
  
it read 'My dOLly iSn't niCe 2 Me ANymORe hE WoN'T STop BLEEDiNG He musT WanT to kiLL Me IF hE GeTs 2 CLOSE i aM GoInG 2 DIE   
  
i CAn'T GeT AWAY FroM HIm I LOst The kEy I'm sO StUpId i LeFT iT iN mY DeSk cAn U FiNd iT FoR mE NoAh oR R U StOoPiD 2?'   
  
Noah sighed heavily, turning back to the doll. It was a lot closer now, and Noah gauged by the writings that letting it get any closer would   
  
be very bad. He sidestepped away from it, watching as it followed him. "Shit.." Noah hissed, moving away from the doll as it chased him.  
  
As he kept moving, Noah took glances at the rows of desk, giving each one a quick look as he moved in and out of rows.   
  
The doll kept trying to cut him off bewteen rows, it was damned smart for having a head stuffed full of cotton.   
  
Noah spied one desk, fourth one down from the front in the second row that had a strange mark on the side.   
  
As he looked closer, keeping an eye on his pursuer he saw that the mark was actually a wrench tightened around the side of the desk.   
  
Noah loosened it until it came free, taking it in his hand in place of his gun as he continued moving. Acting once more on the   
  
strange instincts he had somehow developed through all these crazy riddles and traps, he moved along rows of desks quickly pulling   
  
on the top of each one. He went as fast as he could, keeping the doll in his sight as it continued to follow him. He finally came upon  
  
a desk whose top wouldn't budge, and quickly knelt to inspect the hinges. Someone had fastened a nut and bolt onto the desk   
  
so that it couldn't be opened. Noah went to work quickly with the wrench, removing the nut and sliding the bolt free, yanking the desk   
  
open as the doll neared. Inside the desk was a brass key, and also a box of bullets for his shotgun. He pocketed both items,   
  
jumping back as the doll got nearer than he'd realized, almost running into his foot as he screamed and leapt atop the desk like   
  
a scared housewife fleeing from a kitchen mouse. Noah fired two shots with the handgun, staring in disbelief as the shots  
  
bounced harmlessly off the doll. It shoved the desk over with a fearful power, and ran towards Noah as something   
  
inside it smoked. Noah yelped, understanding now why getting close to the doll meant death. He scrambled away on all fours,   
  
barely staying ahead of the doll. He picked himself up from the hard metal ground and sprinted to the door at the far side of the room.  
  
The doll screamed loudly as he reached the door and jammed the brass key into the keyhole, grunting with pain as the doll exploded.  
  
It had been at the very back of the room when it blew up, yet the explosion had propelled him into the air, knocking the door from it's   
  
hinges as Noah rode it through the air like a snowsled down the staircase that sat at the other end of the hallway the fence had   
  
been guarding. The ride ended abruptly as the sturdy wooden door crashed against the stairwell, spilling Noah onto the   
  
chain link floor. He got up slowly, rubbing his sore butt as he eyed the door in front of him. It was locked, and the brass key didn't  
  
work when he tried it. "Oh man, I always fucking hated this school.." Noah muttered, as he sized up a varitable army   
  
of dolls all wobbling towards him. Noah proceeded to empty his pockets looking for anything he might have picked up and forgotten   
  
about. The pack of cigarettes Reginald had given him made a soft rattle when he shook it, and as Noah opened it he saw that   
  
the dolls were moving much faster than the last one. He almost dropped the cigarettes with a gasp, backing up against the door  
  
as blood red worms slithered from the pack. In their midst was a small metal key. Noah took a deep breath, his eyes  
  
rolling up into his head with disgust as he moved his hand around to grab the key. The worms swarmed around his hand, sliding between   
  
his fingers and leaving a disgusting trail of slime on his skin. Noah shivered, feeling goosebumps all over his body as he pulled his hand   
  
out with the key firmly in his grasp. He unlocked the door as the dolls charged, running at him as he got through the door and   
  
took the following stairs two at a time, leaping down the whole last flight as he found himself in the basement.   
  
He found a door marked 'storage' and inside the small room was an extension cord and two health drinks. Noah glugged   
  
the liquid down hastily, coiling the cord around his shoulder before leaving the room. The only other door was solid metal,   
  
and seemed quite forebodding. Noah saw he didn't really have a choice, as a metal grate slid soundly down in front of the   
  
stairs, crashing to the floor heavily. Noah nodded, not too shocked and took the shotgun in his hand as he opened the door   
  
to the boiler room. The door made a loud screech as it gave way, and beyond it as if he were guarding the gigantic   
  
boiler furnace that took up most of the room, was James. "You're really starting to piss me off, old buddy.." Noah said sadly. 


	19. XIX Boiler

SILENT HILL- BOILER  
  
Noah stood gawking in the doorway, his skin crawling all over with goosepimples as he rasied the shotgun in his   
  
shaking hand. James was there, waiting for his old pal Noah in the school basement. He appeared to be growing,   
  
now a good seven feet tall and wide as a mack truck. Where he had no head before, there was now a genuinely creepy  
  
mass roughly shaped as a head. Noah couldn't even being to see what it was made of, it looked almost like   
  
crimson red gelatin wearing a headless James costume. The blobbish mass affixed to James' neck twitched and shook   
  
as if it were trying to squeeze out and escape. From behind James, another of the eeriely familiar pig monsters   
  
strutted into view. James' gelatin head whipped spastically around to face the newcomer, his right hand swinging   
  
the great knife mightily. With a mixture of high pitched squealing and deeper humanoid screams the pig was   
  
stuck promptly to the boiler room wall like...Well like a pig, was all Noah could think. His instincts said he should cut loose,  
  
just open fire on the both of them while they're distracted ammo reserves be damned. Something inside Noah's body held   
  
back from attacking, as James' roly poly head seemingly fused with the pig's blood that dripped down from it's torn body.   
  
His form seemed to shift and shudder, blurring in and out of reality as something unspeakably horrible literally slipped from   
  
James' body and dragged the dead pig back in with it. Noah felt himself falling over backwards with fright, and caught the   
  
heavy iron door of the boiler room at the last possible second. "James?!" Noah shouted out, as his nemesis faced him once more.   
  
James now had half his original face back, peeling and bleeding profoulsly from all his pores but it was him all right.   
  
The other half of his face was that of the pig creature, screaming and whining as it tried to break free of it's captor.  
  
Perhaps as an answer to Noah's call, the entire room shuddered with a strange moaning sound. It was faint, as if the solid   
  
concrete of the room was groaning in discomfort, yet Noah was sure it had come from James. The humming grew louder, almost  
  
threatening in tone as James faced Noah. His form shifted randomly as if he were periodically existing just a few minutes in  
  
the future from time to time, and it gave Noah the worst sort of fear. Think about what you mean to do, the logical voice  
  
in his head reasoned. Clearly James has become some otherwordly being, not human, can't even say for sure if he's in the same  
  
dimension as you anymore. And you're going to fight him with what, your guns and a few arrows? Get serious, you have to run.   
  
Noah shook his head as James began to advance, closing the space between them quickly. Noah circled around to the right,  
  
keeping his adversary at a distance. Running did seem like a novel idea, albeit a little cowardly. But to where?   
  
The plot, as Reginald put it was indeed thickening. Noah no longer had the luxary of assuming that the otherworld once again  
  
taking over meant progression, and defeating James was another symbolic struggle that would lead him out of the hellish school.   
  
Reginald was doing it, had been doing it from the very beginning. He was caling out the alternate world as he saw fit,   
  
which made sense of some things as others became confusing. James and Noah continued their dance, circling each other  
  
as both waited for the other to strike first. Noah noticed that James stopped just before he was completely away from the boiler  
  
furnace, circling back the other way to make Noah switch directions. He really did seem to be guarding it, but why?   
  
Too much thinking, he's going to kill you. Noah's mind warned, as he realized that James was closing the gap bewteen them  
  
a little more with every repetition of their movements. Noah at least knew that James had grown beyond Reginald's power  
  
of control, and that Noah confronting and ultimately killing James fit somewhere in his grand design. Noah didn't want   
  
to play into his hands, and surely the old coot had indeed orchestrated this. The pack of cigarettes holding the key   
  
which had led Noah down here, the display of power to let Noah know he was in control of the otherworld. Noah felt like   
  
a hamster in a lab maze, skittering around and bumping into electrified walls until there seemed only one route to take.   
  
Reginald may have governed the when and where of the alternate world's existance, but Noah didn't believe he had any such control  
  
over what went on inside it. A part of all this still has an untamed feeling, as if the very demons living within the   
  
hell dimension were fighting to regain sole reign over their world once more. No, there was another way out of here. One that   
  
didn't include fighting James. There had to be.   
  
Noah glanced briefly at the boiler again, seeing that a fire was brewing inside the furnace. Orange flames licked out from   
  
between the bars of the grated door, as the humming noise became a pumping sound, rising and falling as the fire roared.   
  
Noah had a thought, as James got tired of waiting and attacked. The great knife flew sideways meaning to catch Noah's head,   
  
as he jumped backwards and recalled the room he and Estelle had found in the school. The room where corpses lay mangled,   
  
and the awful stench that had kept Estelle near the doorway. The stench of petroleum, though Noah hadn't been able to identify  
  
it before. Another lunging attack from James, as Noah rushed past his side and stuck an arrow deeply into the monster's hand.   
  
James reacted silentely as the entire room seemed to groan on his behalf, Noah now on the run as James pursued him angrily.   
  
Noah wanted that, wanted James as good and angry as he could be. Angry enough he hoped, so that the bastard wouldn't see it coming.   
  
Noah gained some distance, dashing around the room away from James as he turned and fired the shotgun. The pieces of buckshot   
  
sank into his chest, enraging him further as the fire stormed on fiercely. Two big steps while the wounds gave James slight pause,   
  
and Noah jumped straight at him, hoping James would see it as Noah wanted him to, a sneak attack from a worthy rival.   
  
Noah couldn't have planned it any better, as James saw the arrow in Noah's fist. Nimbly for such a giant, he moved aside   
  
at the last second fully unaware that Noah had him positioned directly behind the boiler furnace. Noah saw his feignt succeed,   
  
and with no hesitation let the Q-tip he'd filched from his pocket while drawing the arrow fall from his hand. James showed  
  
a moment of true regret, an almost respectful look of 'oh shit I cannot believe I just fell for that' gracing his half a face   
  
as Noah hit the floor and rolled smartly against the furnace. Hitting it feet first Noah kicked away and rolled between   
  
James' mammoth legs as the Q-tip found it's mark, dropping neatly between the grated furnace door. The petroleum smeared on  
  
one end of the cotton swab was as pure as Noah had hoped for, his nimble form using James as a shield from the fire that exploded  
  
hungrily from the furnace. James was engulfed in flames, staggering around like the world's dumbest stuntman on a job gone   
  
horribly wrong. His screams filled Noah's ears, as James fell backwards stiff as a board into the out of control inferno.   
  
Noah ran to the door, ducking down and covering himself as much as he could. The boiler exploded marvelously, revealing  
  
a door behind it. Noah winced, peeking out at the world through singed fingers as he grinned. The door had been there all along,  
  
just as Noah had thought. The otherworld stayed this time, not fading as when he'd defeated all his other challengers.   
  
Noah rose slowly, making his feet move painfully towards the door. Towards the next nightmare, as Noah was sure Reginald   
  
was off in his castle, cursing him for beating the man at his own game. "Your move." Noah grunted, wrapping his jacket around his hand   
  
as he opened the hot iron door. 


	20. XX Cell

SILENT HILL- CELL  
  
As soon as he was through the door, Noah was running. As much from the pain as the horror, he ran as fast as he could.   
  
He passed a bridge which seemed to span off into forever, hearing sounds of machinery clanking as someone had been kind enough  
  
to activate the section that closed the gap between old and new Silent Hill. "I suppose I have you to thank for that, Reginald."  
  
Noah huffed, not daring to stop out of fear that he would simply drop from exhaustion and be an easy target for any number of   
  
things inhabiting the town. "Where the hell has Estelle got to?" Noah asked aloud, worried for her safety as much as his own.   
  
Reginald had backed up her story, claiming her as his neice which made him a member of her crazy cult family.   
  
As if he'd needed anything to convince him of that, Reginald was sorely nuts. Something as monstrous as the otherworld  
  
could scarecely be believed, and even then it was the kind of forced belief than came from something being shoved in your face  
  
whether you believe it or not, you have to. It's there, it's reality. The otherwolrd was that kind of thing, for each time Noah  
  
escaped it he found himself thinking it was all some disturbing dream or hallucination until it happened again.   
  
"Why would anyone want to control a place like this?" Noah wondered out loud again, seeing no point in it aside  
  
from the bundles of money to be made from the world's first and only real life ghost town. And Reginald didn't seem that type at all.  
  
Noah could only guess at the kind of financial backing he must have had already to even try and tame what almost seemed to be   
  
a dimensional rift to hell itself posing as a town. There were too many questions, Noah's logical mind not totally repressed   
  
by the horrific events he was caught up in. Too many questions and not enough answers, although Noah had no idea where to find  
  
such answers. He could barely find his way through the street even with the help of a map in this town, in fact the only purpose  
  
trying to figure things out served was to keep his mind off the growing ache emcompassing Noah's body. He took out the map yet  
  
again, stopping and panting heavily as he gave it a look. Standing in the middle of the street like he was would ordinarily   
  
be suicide, but whatever was in this town seemed to prohibit combustion. Or perhaps the town itself was so alive with these  
  
creatures, so sentient that it could selectively hinder certain machinery while the rest stayed in perfect working order.  
  
It made no sense for all the cars to be affected, after all he and Estelle had taken quite a wild ride on a roller coaster.  
  
And then there had been all that strange computerized stuff down below the amusement park with the Robbies. Noah had a   
  
momentary image of the hundreds of Robbies all coming up at once and dismantling or sabotaging any vehicle a fellow could   
  
use to escape this town, and the thought alone chilled his spine.   
  
The map was changing every few seconds now, as the eternal fog surrounding the town grew thick and heavy. Within moments   
  
Noah couldn't see more than a foot or two in any direction. "I need to find that stone.." Noah mummered in a trancelike voice,  
  
as he watched the map constantly redraw itself like an etch-a-sketch gone berserk. The hospital was replaced by a gas station,   
  
possibly the one he'd encoutered upon his arrival. The school was erased and the Lakeview Hotel emerged on the paper in it's place,   
  
with 'Reginald' writen in big red letters and a childish arrow pointing to the location. So that's where he'd been when they first met...  
  
A blank section of the new part of town was given color and detail, revealing itself as a police station. In the same chillike  
  
red lettereing Estelle's name appeared over that spot on the map, and without another glance Noah was off running.  
  
Reginald howled in rage, throwing a ceramic lamp across the room. He stood hunched and unflinching as it broke agianst the wall  
  
and jagged pieces flew back at him. "I'll make him give it to me!!" He shouted, as the other man stood quietly in his corner.   
  
"Are you sure he really had it to begin with?" The man questioned, putting a thumb to his small blonde goatee and touching   
  
it thoughtfully as Reginald turned around to face him. "It has to be him, Estelle's connection to him proves it. He's just   
  
holding out on us." Reginald explained angrily, pacing around the room and clutching half of the stone he lusted after so madly.   
  
"If I may.." The other man spoke out again, his attention focused on a red stain that refused to leave the sleeve of his black  
  
button down shirt. "Even if it is as you say Reginald, he had no knowledge of the stone's origins or power. It's entirely possible  
  
he sold it or even gave it away, perhaps he merely lost it. I believe it's foolish to be wasting your precious time on such a man.."  
  
Reginald scowled, stepping up to the other man close enough to feel his breath. "It's because he's that kind of man that he most   
  
certainly does still have it, Lucius." Reginald argued, poking his finger at the mans's chest with every word. "A simple man,   
  
foolish and unaware of anything in this world that can't be seen. He found that stone as a boy and truly, that's all it was to him.   
  
But as soon as he gave it to my neice, in his simple little mind it became a token of friendship, a bond. Men like Noah,   
  
do not let go of such things so easily." Lucius merely nodded, letting the old goat have his way. "Be that as it may old man,   
  
do not forget that I am not a part of your little group. Nor have I any interest in what you are all trying to bring about.   
  
You employed me, as an assassin." Lucius held out his blood stained sleeve to illustrate that fact before continuing.   
  
"So, if you ever decide to forget about that man and kill him as I think you should, then by all means let me know. Until that time.."   
  
Lucius glared at Reginald with cold black eyes, startling him as much as any of the demons in Silent Hill. "I have more pressing   
  
matters to attend to, goodbye." Lucius turned and walked out of the hotel room without another word, his heeled boots sounding   
  
his exit as they marched rigidly down the hall. Reginald listened to him go, and sat down in a huff. Time was short, he needed  
  
the other half of the stone. If Noah wouldn't give it to him willingly, perhaps his neice could be of some use yet.   
  
Noah sat slouched down in the police cruiser low enough so that only his hair was visible just above the dashboard. The   
  
flying creatures were new to him, and made the most piercing screeches as they hunted for him. He'd spotted the first one   
  
from a distance, and dove into the car as a desperate last resort. The fog had lifted a little but still surrounded everything   
  
like an explosion of cotton candy.   
  
So there Noah sat, hiding from the monsters that had almost tripled in numbers since he had reached the police station.   
  
Luckily the cruiser was parked directly in front of the building, the entrance no more than ten feet from the passenger  
  
door. Noah was preparing to make a run for it, checking his supplies now that he finally had a little time to breathe.  
  
He sipped at the health drink, wincing at the taste. The first had been a welcome treat, the others sweet and mildly   
  
refreshing. But now, after drinking God only knew how much of the sugary liquid the drinks were making him feel   
  
sick. That little boy kind of sick that comes from freebasing candy and chocolate all day, completely oblivious to the   
  
benefits of a well balanced meal. Noah decided to cap the health drink, saving it for later. He looked over the map again,  
  
wishing desperately for a simple glass of cold water to wash the awful texture from his gullet. As he'd thought, the map  
  
remained unchanged. It seemed to have made up it's mind as soon as Noah arrived at the police station, the very instant   
  
the fog had lifted he would bet anything on it. He turned the map over cautiously, spreading it out as flat on his lap as he could.   
  
The backside was covered with things Noah had been writing down, information he'd been gathereing along the way, little bits  
  
of what was going on that he'd heard from Reginald and Estelle, and what he had pieced together himself.   
  
There was no room for error here, only what he was sure he knew was written down. He looked the notes over, his mind   
  
clicking away at the problems which needed solving. So far he knew that Reginald was at least somewhat, if not totally wrong  
  
about the otherworld and his stranglehold on it's innermost workings. And also that Estelle was as she'd been saying all along,   
  
just another piece in the chess game her uncle was playing at. What Noah knew for sure at this point, was that there were two   
  
forces at work in Silent Hill, the actual nature of the town itself, or the spirits that made it what it was. These were the forces  
  
that generated the monsters holding a personal meaning for him, the creature that had represented his foster mother and his father  
  
attacking him from while inside the bunny suit. These things were leading him towards a kind of self discovery, things he'd forgotten.  
  
Memories so painful he had buried them deep inside his heart. Noah was convinced this was a good thing, if not a little extreme.  
  
The other force pulling at him was Reginald's will trying to overshadow the town's own way of things, leading him into confrontations  
  
with James and meeting Estelle. It was also clear that the spirits of Silent Hill were fighting back against Reginald, which   
  
was why the map sometimes changed constantly as if the town itself couldn't make up it's mind as to where he should go next.   
  
Those things being taken for fact, him coming here to look for Estelle was Reginald's doing, and the next stage of Noah's   
  
own reawakening lay elsewhere. Noah scratched that part out, writing more over it as a flash of memories invadaed his head violently,   
  
making his nose bleed. The monsters outside seemed to detect the scent, closing in as they narrowed their search to the vicinity of the   
  
police station, he wouldn't be safe here much longer. Noah knew now that it wasn't true about Estelle being part of Reginald's plan,   
  
not completely anyway. Reginald's monologue had unlocked memories of his childhood, Noah could now recall knowing Estelle for a short  
  
time when they were both very young, he always thought she was very sad, before he'd lost his father and couldn't understand how someone   
  
could be so unhappy all the time. One day, he'd been abandoned by some friends who were gathered around an old hill near the lake.   
  
About halfway up was where they'd all hiked to, and found a cave none of them had dared go into. None but Noah.   
  
He had gone in to explore even though they'd all heard stories of a haunted cave that cursed any who ventured into it.   
  
Noah had been afraid, but envisoned his dad being with him and saying that no son of his would fear a silly thing like a   
  
haunted cave. Inside it had been very dark, the floodlamp Noah had carried in barely penetrating the maze of stalagtites and  
  
paths draped with spider webs bigger than the old picinic table he and his mother had sat at on so many warm days watching his   
  
father cook hot dogs and hamburgers. Deeper inside, something had begun to make a strange echoing noise almost like a   
  
whistle. Noah had finally been scared enough to head back, when the ground gave way. He had fallen, fallen forver.   
  
He had woken up stretched out on the floor of a cavern far below with bones of people all around him. It was like being   
  
in a catacomb, Noah remembered. It was there that he'd found the stone, half of what was once a round piece of onyx twice  
  
as large as his palm had been at that age. The one and a half circles on the face of it had glowed a deep red when he touched it,   
  
finding it quite by mistake while searching for the lost floodlamp. He'd found both and had sat there on the floor littered  
  
with pieces of skeletons, crying and thinking that he would die down there for sure. Noah had never been able to remember just how   
  
he'd gotten out of there, but now the memories came rushing back as his eyes widened. There he was, sitting on the ground  
  
clutching the worthless stone and praying to God that he find some way out. Indeed Noah remembered that the stone had glowed,  
  
and in the next instant there had been a strange humming, Noah had since become accustomed to it being in the otherworld for so long.  
  
As if by magic there had been a hole in the wall where there was only solid rock before, the hole had led him all the way back to   
  
daylight at the foot of the hill. His friends long gone, and he'd run home to his parents as fast as his little legs could carry him.   
  
The next day he'd been ignored by everyone, his friends already spreading the story of Noah that went into a haunted cave and was   
  
now cursed forever. It was later that day, outside near the jungle gym that he had found Estelle sitting sadly on a bench.  
  
Noah had tried to talk to her, but she remained quiet. In a gesture of friendship, being the only friend he had now that didn't   
  
believe he was cursed Noah had given her the stone he'd found. She had smiled then, once. A beautiful smile, before tousling his hair  
  
and walking off. Everything was making sense to him now, as a loud thud shook him out of his daze. The monsters were attacking the car,  
  
as Noah looked in the rear view mirror and saw that his nose has been bleeding more and more as the memories came. Somehow,   
  
the common ground that this town and Reginald's goals shared lay within Estelle. It was important for him to remember her, and how   
  
he'd been at that age also. He needed to bring back those days when the light still shone in his eyes if he would ever pass the   
  
test Silent Hill had thrown him into. Noah realized that Estelle's uncle was using her to lure him where he wanted Noah to go,   
  
so that there was no real way to tell if he was doing the right thing by going after Estelle or not. The only way he could   
  
see himself getting out of here was to keep her with him, and hopefully she would follow him on the path that would lead him  
  
through his painful past and back out to where the real world awaited him. So the only way to survive would be to take   
  
Estelle out of here with him, just had he wanted to all along anyway. Silent Hill was almost feeling like the old home   
  
it once was again to Noah, but any further nostalgia would have to wait. It was time to get away from the uglies.   
  
Noah eyed the remaining beef jerky as he repacked his supplies, gripping the shotgun as he held the jerky in his other hand.  
  
"No way I'm gonna eat anymore of this crap." Noah whispered hoarsely, rolling down the car window and throwing the jerky   
  
out to the side. At least five of the winged creatures flocked around it, as Noah bolted out of the car and headed for the   
  
doors of the police station. Another kind of monster, this one ressembling a small gorilla didn't fall for it and bounded  
  
after him. Noah threw himself backwards through the door, unloading two rounds into it's knees. The lead caught it in mid  
  
jump, and the monster made a surprised kind of yell when it landed and found it's legs refused to support it. Falling flat  
  
on it's face, the monster cried miserably for help. The winged monsters by now realized they'd all been had, and flew over to   
  
their injured comrade. Noah backed up inside the door, hoping that he had enough time to take them by surprise. It was   
  
Noah who was surprised, as the creatures ended their search for food and started picking at the wounded gorilla thing.   
  
Noah backed off slowly, unable to take his eyes away from the carnage as he backpeddled further into the building.   
  
There was a treasure trove of bullets for both a shotgun and a handgun in one of the rooms. SWAT gear and  
  
plastic sheilds were hung up on the walls, and Noah took down a flak jacket and also one of the shields. He grinned at the design,   
  
quite unbreakable unless high explosives were involved, and a little slot near the top to poke a weapon through.   
  
"Fucking sweet!" Noah cried uncharacteristically, leaving the bow in one of the empty lockers since he was all out of arrows.   
  
As he went through the rest of the lockers, he found an extremely compact and lightweight assault rifle, complete with two  
  
full magazines and a light affixed to the top of the barrel. Noah smiled even wider and took it happily, glad to have   
  
a back up plan in case the puny pocket flashlight he'd been stuck with all this time deicided to quit on him.   
  
Noah patroled through the rest of the building, finding nothing more than another first aid kit and a post it note stained  
  
with blotches of what looked like purple ink under a desk lamp. That bothered him a little, since weird obscure clues meant  
  
trouble was close on his heels. Yet the building was completely deserted, he had been expecting zombie cops or maybe   
  
at least a zombie criminal or two. The only person he found, after exploring all but the small wing of the building used   
  
for the holding cells, was Estelle. As he peeked around the corner he saw only one guard, and he was sleeping soundly  
  
behind his desk. The snores made stealth easier, as Noah creeped up to the jail cell. Estelle barely heard him when   
  
he whispered 'psst!' from the other side of the bars. She got up from the cheap cot with a foam pillow, smiling just a little   
  
as Noah looked at her with relief. "I'm have you out in a jiffy, 'Stell." He said quietly, giving her a thumbs up as   
  
she reacted to his childhood name for her by smiling wider. Noah carefully snuck the keys off the desktop without rousing   
  
the cop, and turned back to see Estlle take out the gun he'd given her and point it straight at him, her smile gone. 


	21. XXI Get Out

SILENT HILL- GET OUT   
  
Noah froze in surprise as Estelle pulled the trigger without flinching,   
  
the gunshot ringing his ears like a church bell on sunday.   
  
Behind him there was a loud scream, and before Noah could turn to investigate  
  
it's source the now quite awake and angered cop cracked his head with a billy club.  
  
Noah sank against the cell bars lazily, sparks of light dancing in front of his eyes.  
  
Estelle was still a damn good shot for a blind girl, the bullet had gone straight through  
  
the cop's forehead and out the back leaving a hole big enough that Noah could see the   
  
pale yellowish wall at the far end of the room even though the cop was right in front of him.   
  
"Was wondering when you'd show up..." Noah mummered as his vision cleared up, thinking back  
  
humorously on his earlier wondering of why there were no zombie cops inhabiting the police station.  
  
The dead officer pulled the club back for another swing, but Noah was much faster to draw and   
  
fired two shotgun shells into the zombie's legs as he rose. The cop hit the floor face down, crawling  
  
as his hands scraped against the concrete floor and left blood trails from his broken fingernails as he went.   
  
One thing Noah had noticed in his travels was that the simpler, less horrifying undead humans stumbling around   
  
the town were practically harmless once they were on the ground. Noah swung his foot into the cop's trembling head   
  
with glee, feeling strangely high and carefree all of a sudden. It was so much fun in fact, that Noah did it again  
  
and again until he sent the cop's head soaring across the room and out the doorway. "Hey!" Estelle's confused   
  
voice chimed in, as Noah turned grinning to face his damsel in distress. "Are you going to get me out of here or what?"   
  
She lectured, as Noah laughed at his own absent mindedness. He really did feel stoned, or at least like someone and   
  
drugged him up real good. He was well aware of the blood dripping from the back of his head but felt no pain and   
  
therefore paid it no mind. It wasn't until Noah bent down to fetch the dead officer's keys that he noticed a small  
  
ceramic object protruding from his right calf.   
  
"What the hell is that?" He asked, almost laughing as he came back up with   
  
the keys. "Just hurry! There's more of them you know!" Estelle commanded, as Noah swaggereed towards her cell. He lost his   
  
balance and fell against the cell bars again, his shoulder getting momentiarily stuck between them. He took another look  
  
at the thing sticking out of his leg and became more serious as he yanked it out and inspected it. "What is this? It looks like  
  
a...I dunno what it looks like actually.." Noah stared dumbly at it as Estelle lost her patience and reached out through the   
  
bars to snatch the keys away from Noah's light grip. "I had to do something, that thing would've killed you." Estelle   
  
half explained, letting herself out of the cell. "You stuck this..Thing in me?" Noah slurred, sounding drunk   
  
as Estelle put the gun away and pilfered the officer's corpse. He had almost nothing on him, but she pocketed his matches  
  
and claimed the nightstick for her own. "It's called an ampoule, Noah." Estelle explained dryly as if it should've been obvious.  
  
"It numbs you up, they're like painkillers but they don't knock you out." Noah took wobbly steps as Estelle cautiously left the room,  
  
poking her head out into the hallway. "Yeah, they make you all ready to kill things instead, right?" Noah talked as if his bottom lip   
  
would fall off at any moment, the ridiculous grin still stapled to his face. "It'll wear off in a minute." Estelle assured him.   
  
"But be careful, it's going to hurt like hell for a while we need to get you bandaged before you sober up and pass out from the pain."  
  
Noah shook his head from side to side as his neck muscles decided to stop working. "I won't pass out.." Noah insisted, swaying so much   
  
now that each step he took brought him to the opposite side of the hall. "Then you'll be screaming so loud every creep in the building   
  
will hear and we'll be as good as dead, same difference." Estelle persisted, holding the handgun out in front of her purposefully   
  
as she grabbed Noah's limp right hand. "Hehe, talk about the blind leading the stuuupid..." Noah sounded like a 45 rpm record  
  
set on 33 rpms now, each word he spoke drawn out to a ludicrous degree. "I'm sorry.." Noah apologized humbly as Estelle glared back at him.  
  
"That was really insensitive I didn't mean to say that I'm just a little fucked uuuuup..." Noah's head hit the floor with a sound thud  
  
as his legs took a vacation without his permission. His now totally lifeless hand almost took Estelle down with him as it slipped away  
  
from her. "Jesus Noah, snap out of it." She ordered, concern in her voice as she tried to pick him up. "I only gave you one for God's sake,  
  
it should have worn off by now." He was heavier than he looked, and Estelle ended up falling on her butt next to Noah.   
  
"Shoulda woulda coulda..." Noah mummbled, sounding like a retarded eight year old now. Estelle sighed, turning him over on   
  
his back. "How many health drinks have you been taking anyway?" She questioned, slapping him across the face to wake him up.   
  
"Toooo Maaaaany.." Noah slurred, reaching up and hugging Estelle close to him despite her loud shouts of protest.   
  
"I 'member youuuu nooow 'Stelle." Noah said drunkenly, snuggling Estelle to his chest. "You were my best friend, I 'member youuu."  
  
Estelle grunted with effort, slithering out of Noah's arms. "I don't suppose you ever bothered to read the labels on those drinks?"  
  
She asked, sounding extremely fed up with him. "Noooope." Noah laughed, waving his hands in the air as if some insanely fun gadget  
  
was suspended over him from the ceiling. "Those things are alcoholic, idiot." Estelle grumbled, dragging him over to a water fountain  
  
attached to the wall. She clunked his head into the basin, running ice cold water over the back of his head. His soaking wet hair   
  
fell down over his cheeks as the ampoule finally wore off, and suddenly Noah was very aware of the gash on the back of his head   
  
as well as the lump on his forehead and all his less recent wounds all at once.   
  
"Son of a...!!" Noah cried out loud enough to tell God all about it, cutting himself off and gritting his teeth so he wouldn't make anymore   
  
noise. He held his head with both hands and danced around like a luantic as the pain all came in one big agonizing tsunami.   
  
He couldn't see anything, his muscles kept his eyes shut as the intense pain steamrolled over him.   
  
"Oh, my fucking...Owww!" He hissed, standing in one place and hunching over as the   
  
pain did indeed threaten to knock him out cold. "No more of those for you." Estelle said angrily, taking an empty bottle from her   
  
collection of what used to be health drinks and filling it up with water. "Here, drink it." She demamded, offering the bottle to Noah  
  
as he looked up through squinting eyes just long enough to grab the water. He sipped at it first, a little metallic tasting  
  
but it certainly wouldn't kill him. Estelle watched him chug the water down greedily, dropping the bottle as the pain finally faded  
  
enough to let him open his eyes. "Time to go." He said through the pain, as a dozen more of the dead cops were shuffling towards  
  
Estelle. She turned around and pulled out the handgun, aiming for head shots. She put down two of them before Noah put his hand   
  
on her arm, lowering the gun. Estelle looked at him in confusion, and saw that he was most defintely sobered up and back into  
  
survival mode again. "You can't have many bullets left." Noah stated, and watched Estelle blush as she felt down through her pockets.  
  
"Maybe enough for one reload." She admitted grimly, as Noah pushed her behind him. "Then start shooting." Noah instructed,  
  
taking the police shield off it's shoulder strap and holding it out in front of him. His other hand stuck the barrel of his shotgun   
  
through the shield's rectangular space and he ran straight at the pack of zombies, Estelle staying close enough to touch as she   
  
fired off shots. The undead cops were trampled under the pair's feet as Noah smashed into them, plowing through them like   
  
paper as the two of them unloaded bullets. There was loud screeching and the sound of breaking glass as Noah and Estelle   
  
rounded the corner, the winged monsters had finished their meal and now wanted some dessert.   
  
One of them flew overhead, touching down right in front of Noah and holding it's ground. "Beep beep buddy."   
  
Noah joked, filling the creature with holes as he and Estelle ran past it without even slowing down.   
  
More of them were following close behind, and Estelle whispered a curse as her gun clicked empty.   
  
Noah spotted the locker room door rushing past them on the left and pulled Estelle inside as one of   
  
the monsters dove for them. It caught only a door in it's face, falling down as Noah closed and locked the door behind them.   
  
"Well, we're safe for now." Noah hoped, as soft banging from the remaining creatures was heard on the other side of the door.   
  
"That wasn't a half bad idea." Estelle complimented, rummaging through the lockers for handgun bullets. "Gee thanks."   
  
Noah replied, grabbing another flak jacket off the wall and handing it to her. Estelle nodded thoughtfully and put it on,   
  
reloading her gun and filling the jacket's pockets with more supplies. Noah began to search around himself, finding a   
  
small compliment of grenades he'd somehow overlooked before. "Back there 'Stelle, I didn't mean.."   
  
Noah tried to explain himself, feeling guilty about grabbing her like he had. It had been worse than being punch drunk,   
  
more uncontraollable and embarrasing. And the after effects were a damn sight worse also. Estelle looked over the lockers  
  
at him, frowning sympathetically. "It's ok, you were completely out of it. Besides it's good you finally remembered."   
  
Noah cocked an eyebrow, not seeing what was so good about it. "Yeah about that, do you know where that stone I gave you   
  
back then ended up?" Estelle snapped her head up from the shopping spree, eyeing him with uncertainty.   
  
"You met my uncle, then?" She asked, taking a deep breath as Noah nodded. "Yeah I met the old goat, bug shagging crazy   
  
that guy." Estelle nodded back, walking over to Noah. "But his lust for the other half of that stone is all too real,  
  
if he finds it.." Noah put his finger on Estelle's lips, shaking his head. "I don't want to think about what would happen  
  
if he found it before we did, let's just say we can't let it happen and leave it at that ok?" Estelle saw his point   
  
and turned away, suddenly back to her old depressed self again. "What was that back there anyway? You going all G.I Jane on me?"  
  
Noah questioned as he found a mirror inside one of the locker doors and examined his head. Estelle finished arming herself   
  
and went over to Noah, slapping his hand gently out of the way as she opened a first aid kit. "Alright.." Noah said, confused  
  
but glad to have someone else patch him up so he could concentrate on not passing out. "God, he got you good. This is all my fault."  
  
Estelle brooded, placing a wad of cotton over the wide gash." Noah pursed his lips, sitting patiently as Estelle did her thing.  
  
"No, I went in there like an idiot. I should have known those things don't ever sleep." Noah argued, looking at Estelle in the mirror.  
  
"And if you hadn't given me that...Whatever, I'd be lying on the floor of that jail cell bleeding to death right now."  
  
Estelle sighed heavily, pecking lightly at Noah's wound with a small brush tipped with disinfectant. It hurt now and then, but   
  
his whole head was such a tangled mess of pain it wasn't a big deal. "But you came here to get me, so it's still my fault."   
  
Estelle countered, rubbing some goop into the gash on Noah's head before she started to bandage it. "And no one made me come either,   
  
I need you with me that's all. So still it's my own damn fault." Noah persisted, coaxing another sigh out of Estelle.   
  
"Who the hell put you in there anwyay?" Noah asked, suddenly realizing he had no ideas about that. "Those things out there would much  
  
rather eat you than lock you up, I'm sure." Estelle repacked the first aid kit, tucking it away as Noah inspected his new look.   
  
"A man came looking for me, Lucius. He works for my uncle." Noah raised his eyebrows, wincing as the movement hurt his head.   
  
"And he's the one that left you in there?" Noah asked, gearing up for their escape. "Yes, after I wouldn't tell him anything.  
  
He thinks my uncle should have killed you right away, instead of trying to get the other half of the stone from you.   
  
He's a very cruel man..." Estelle stopped and looked down at her arm, feeling along the bottom of it. Noah craned his neck to   
  
see what she was doing, and saw bruises on the underside of her arm from her elbow all the way down to her wrist.  
  
"The bastard put a hurt on you, did he.." Noah growled, suddenly very angry at all of the cloak and dagger stuff going around.  
  
The monsters were one thing, he was almost used to those by now. But there were people involved here, real people with real  
  
bad intentions. And for some reason they were all after a stone he couldn't even remember what he did with. Estelle had given it   
  
back to him, he was pretty sure. When he had moved away she gave it to him saying that he should keep it to remember her by.   
  
It was most likley still somewhere in his apartment, but there was no way he could get to it very quickly while he was stuck in   
  
Silent Hill like this.   
  
"Estelle, can your uncle...Does that half of the stone he's got allow him to come and go in this town   
  
as he pleases?" Estelle cocked her head curiously, not understanding what he meant. "He can move around the town all he likes,   
  
but if he tried to leave I'm pretty sure he'd have to face the same kind of thing you are. Why?" Noah nodded, filing all that   
  
away. Reginald had him at a steep disadvantage when it came to knowledge about the town, and if he'd gone so far as to   
  
have Estelle beaten just to get to the stone then time was surely running out. "What about someone else? Can Reginald   
  
grant passage in and out of the town?" Noah asked again, running through all he knew about the old man's plans.   
  
"No." Estelle answered, getting even more confused by Noah's cryptic questions. "But my uncle has people working for him  
  
outside of this town, if he needed something done out there one of them would do it for him."   
  
Noah nodded again, rubbing his chin as his mind ached through the problems. Thinking became harder after you'd had a ravine   
  
carved out of the back of your skull. "That might be our edge then." Noah stated, peering out the shuttered windows.   
  
The monsters were still gathered around the entrance, ready and waiting to pounce on the first thing out the door with meat on it's   
  
bones. "Your uncle is probably sending someone out to my place for the stone, if he hasn't already." Estelle gasped softly,   
  
looking down in despair. "What he doesn't know, is that it's not there anymore...I remember now I gave it to James shortly after   
  
we became friends, I told him it was my good luck charm from a while back and I didn't really believe in that stuff..."  
  
Noah turned back to look at Estelle, who seemed at least a little hurt by his treatment of the token she'd given him.   
  
"Anymore." Noah finished, looking hurt also as he turned back to his surveilance. "I did keep it though, 'Stelle. For the longest   
  
time I treasured that old rock like it was gold, thought about you and it gave me hope. After a while I just...I didn't have a happy  
  
life after I left here Estelle, it was like being in hell. I just gave up on hope, on everything. Maybe it was the right thing to come   
  
here after all, you know? I've found myself again, if I ever get out of this damned town I'll be happy just living. I can't believe   
  
I'd forgotten so much, forgotten you..." Noah didn't even have time to be surprised before Estelle's arms were holding him from behind,   
  
embracing him as she put her face against his back. "You're going to get yourself killed, trying to save us both." She said sadly,   
  
as if she really believed that's how this would ultimately play out. "Seeing you again was worth it, 'Stelle." Noah responded,  
  
placing his hand over hers touching on his chest. "But we're not going to die, not you or me. When James left me, he took that   
  
stone with him I remember it being gone from his room when I found his letter. He must have lost it somewhere before Reginald   
  
got to him otherwise he'd have had the whole thing before I even got here. No, the other half of that stone was lost in this town.  
  
It must have been, Reginald would have thought of looking in every other place by now." Estelle buried her head harder against Noah,   
  
sounding very frightened all of a sudden. She got like that when she talked about her uncle. "If he gets the stone Noah, he'll  
  
be able to spread the disease of this town, branch it out to infect other places. He won't stop until the whole world is like this,  
  
it's what he wants. He's obsessed Noah, he thinks he's found paradise or something I heard him talking about it. We can't let him.."  
  
"Are you afraid 'Stelle?" Noah asked her out of the blue, turning around with his hand still on her own. "Are you afraid of leaving here?  
  
Of getting out of this town and being free of all this?" Estelle looked up at Noah sadly, her stitched eyes still able to portray  
  
a broad range of emotions. "No I.." she began unsteadily, almost stuttering. "I tried, once. I couldn't do it, you're so strong Noah and   
  
I wish I were too. But I'm weak, I'd never pass the trial so this town would let me go. I couldn't, I didn't make it very far at all.  
  
I lied to you, Noah. When I said that I was put in that hospital. I could only get that far and then I was too afraid, too scared of   
  
what I'd see if I went any further. What the demons in that place would make me face next, so I stayed there. I was there so long,   
  
so many people came after that, even your friend James. I knew he wouldn't make it, I knew none of them would so I stayed in the   
  
hospital. I think part of me was hoping you'd come someday, that you'd find your way back here and find me. I wanted you to come and   
  
rescue me Noah, and when you did finally come I thought maybe..." Estelle didn't say anymore, and held onto Noah tightly as she   
  
cried soft tears. "You thought I was looking for you, not James." Noah finished for her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and   
  
hugging her. "But then, you said you were looking for a man, a friend. So I wanted to help you, you're the only friend I've ever  
  
had Noah...I never wanted you to get trapped in this place like me but I'm afraid..This town knows the people it ensnares, inside and out.  
  
It knew what I wanted and it knew that James was your friend, I'm sure of that." Noah's face grew soft with tenderness, as he stroked  
  
Estelle's hair and touched his forehead against hers. "So you think this town called me here, because you wanted me here?"   
  
Noah asked, as the banging from the hallway outside grew louder. Pretty soon they'd have to make a run for it.   
  
"I know it did Noah, and I'm sorry. I never wanted you to get hurt, but I've been through so much since you moved away. I just wanted  
  
my friend with me, that's all. I'm so sorry..." Noah shook his head, tilting Estelle's chin until she was looking up at him again.   
  
"Well here I am 'Stelle, and you know what I'm glad. I'm not the same person I was when I came here, I'm a better one now.   
  
And I swear on my father's memory that both of us will get out of here alive, all we need to do is find that stone and then   
  
get out of town with it." Estelle's lip quivered as she looked at Noah as if he were an alien. "But you don't know my uncle,   
  
he's not going to stop until he has the stone, and then nothing will matter anyways. And he's got so much influence over this town  
  
now it's hopeless, he can find that stone in this town anytime he wants but how are you and I supossed to? We don't even know where  
  
James lost it!" Estelle quieted down, whispering an apology for yelling at him. "We're going to find that stone, and before your uncle."  
  
Noah assured her, standing up and taking her with him. "See I've figured something out 'Stelle, something I don't think Reginald   
  
has yet. This town, likes being this town. It has no will for expansion, it doesn't care about taking over anything. This place 'Stelle,   
  
is pure concentrated vengeance. It's brutal and unforgiving yes, but it exists solely to punish sinners and to show the path to   
  
the ones who can stil be saved. Reginald is interferring with that, he's trying to make this place bend to his will. And the   
  
demons that own this place, this town. They don't like that at all, they're fighting him off. Fighting to remain what they've   
  
always been, creatures of judgement. On my way here 'Stelle, my map was going nuts. Redrawing itself every five seconds at least.  
  
The spirits that dwell here are trying to show me the way out, and Reginald is trying to make them lead me into playing his game.   
  
But now, you're here too. And you have a path just like me, a way you can take to get out of this damned town and never have   
  
to come back. The map will lead us straight to the stone just to spite that old bastard I just know it.   
  
I know you were afraid of it before, but do you think if I were with you. Do you think you could try it again 'Stelle?"  
  
Estelle didn't seem to like that idea, and turned away from him. "I couldn't bear it if you hated me Noah, not after seeing you again  
  
like this. If you went with me, you'd see things..Bad things..." Noah cut her words short, kissing her for the second time.   
  
This time she didn't resist, and when it was over he looked at her with all the confidence he had, trying to give some of it to her.   
  
"I'd still love you, 'Stelle. Nothing will change that, not one blessed thing you understand me?" He could tell Estelle was moved,   
  
and maybe a little braver about things. Her face morphed into heated resolve, her eyes would have burned with determination   
  
if she had any. "You're right Noah, I can't be afraid anymore, I'm not..You're here now, and when I'm with you I can fight back.  
  
I'm not scared of what I'll find if you're there with me, but it won't work. There's no time."  
  
Noah shook his head in disagreement, feeling that there would be time enough if they stopped talking and started moving.   
  
"He's close, very close to finding the stone. No matter where it is he'll find it soon. There's no time for us to go looking for it and   
  
then try to babystep me through my trial, you know that Noah." There she was again, the unyielding solider that had saved his life   
  
a dozen times by now. "And that's why, you're going to go find that stone Noah. You take the map and you find it, and then you get   
  
out of this town as fast you can. I'll take on my path alone, and I'll meet you at the city limits." Noah thought it was the best   
  
plan they'd ever come up with, far and away. "But what if you don't show?" Noah asked worriedly, wondering if it was antother of   
  
her selfless attempts to make him leave her here to rot. "Oh I'll show Noah, if I don't I'll have lost the trial and be good as dead  
  
anyhow, I'll be one of those things out there looking for a sinner." Noah narrowed his eyes, wanting so badly to believe her.   
  
"You promise me 'Stelle. You promise me that you won't quit on me, you can get through this just like I have. And I'll be waiting  
  
for you at the finish line, that's my promise to you." Estelle gave him an almost sly smile, the sub machine gun from one of the lockers   
  
in her hands as the handgun poked firmly out of her belt. "I'll probably beat you there after all, with the way you go through  
  
those drinks." Noah smiled back at her, more in love with her now than ever. The crush from his boyhood was gone,   
  
she was a woman now. His woman. It was time to get the fuck out of dodge. 


	22. XXII Slaughterhouse

SILENT HILL- Slaughterhouse  
  
Estelle watched nervously as the locker room door began to give way. It's hinges bending as the monsters tirelessly  
  
pounded on the other side. "I think this is our best way out." Noah suggested, slowly opening the shutters on the window.  
  
The same battered police cruiser he'd hidden out in before was a short distance away, maybe as much as ten seconds  
  
from the window. "But those things will see us!" Estelle argued, getting her handgun ready as she guarded the door.  
  
"They already know we're here Estelle. We'll at least have a few seconds going out the window, once those monsters break in here   
  
we'll have to fight our way through every last one of them." Estelle looked at the situation from Noah's perspective,   
  
seeing his point. "But at least in here we're halfway safe Noah, once we go outside there's no telling how many of them   
  
will show up." Noah kept watch out the window, holding his breath as a few of the gorilla looking things outside the entrance  
  
moved inside. "They're all starting to come in, crafty little buggers." Noah reported, walking over to Estelle and grabbing her   
  
hand. "You better be sure about this." She warned, as Noah got his shotgun ready. "You're going to need a map.." Noah   
  
said suddenly, stopping and taking out his. "No I..The town will give me one Noah, when I start on the path." Estelle   
  
countered, waving his away. "The maps are specific to each person anyway, yours wouldn't tell me anything."   
  
Noah took that as a fact, and had another look out the window before breaking through it's glass with the shotgun stock.  
  
The street near the police car was almost empty now, as the door was finally beaten down and a multitude of slimy, hungry creatures  
  
invavded the room. Noah slipped out the broken window with Estelle close behind, the two of them easily falling the three   
  
or four feet from the window to the ground. Estelle rushed ahead of Noah, throwing the car door open in desperation and   
  
jumping inside. Noah followed her in, slouching down in the passenger seat as he closed the door. The window was still in sight,   
  
and Noah watched almost eagerly as the creatures found their prey gone. One of the winged monsters hurt itself on the broken   
  
window glass and made a pathetic attempt to run before several of the gorilla looking things ran it down and ate it alive.   
  
"Ahhh, wow that's some poetic justice right there." Noah marveled at the grisly scene, taking it as proof that the town had it's  
  
own natural set of laws. Estelle frowned and watched with him, looking like she was about to vomit as the monsters all joined in.  
  
A few of them began fighting over the last pieces of flesh, and as more of the creatures were wounded the whole thing turned into  
  
a huge orgy of mutilation. Parts were thrown from the open window as the monsters slaughtered each other. "Now aren't you glad  
  
we weren't in there?" Noah teased Estelle, turning to her as took out his map. It might just have been that the town had   
  
spared them intentionally, or that they had gotten extremely lucky. The map was stable now, a place called Rosewater park was   
  
circled in red. It was pretty far, but with his new assualt rifle Noah was sure he'd be ok. The really nasty things only seemed to   
  
exist indoors when a place was sucked into the otherworld. "You sure you'll find a map?" Noah asked again, concerned for Estelle as   
  
she prepared to set off on her path. "That's how it usually works, everyone that came through the hospital all those years...  
  
They all had maps." Noah seemed satisfied with that, watching as Estelle checked over her supplies. She had well over 500 bullets  
  
for both weapons, and the dead cop's nightstick for closer encounters. "I've only got two of these left.." Estelle said softly,   
  
handing an ampoule to Noah. "I don't know if I should be taking anymore of those.." Noah refused, cringing away from it. Estelle  
  
sighed tiredly and stuck the small bottle in his jacket pocket. "It may save your life, Reginald's going to be sending everything   
  
he has after you before too long." She persisted, opening the driver's side door and looking back at Noah. "You better be there, Noah."  
  
She warned him, biting her lower lip. She was really worried about him after all, Noah was pleased with that. They had both come a   
  
long ways from their first meeting. "Same goes for you, 'Stelle." Noah returned, reaching over to touch her hand before she ran off  
  
alone into the misty void. Noah watched her go, then waited another ten minutes. Still no more monsters came to investigate the   
  
scene. Noah's curiousity overtook him, as he crept stealthly away from the car and back to the window. He peered in, his stomach  
  
churning at the state the room was now in. There were four monsters left, three gorilla things and one of the winged creatures.  
  
They poked their noses amongst the carnage, looking for leftovers perhaps. Noah also saw that some of the zombie cops had  
  
survived the earlier attack and had gotten caught up in the fray. The locker room closely ressembled a slaughterhouse now,   
  
blood and little bits of monster painted every inch of the walls and most of the ceiling. The floor was also slick with it,   
  
and Noah contined watching from his hiding spot just outside the window as the winged monster slipped on an organ. It flailed   
  
and fell back on top of one of the gorilla creatures, who all immediately took it as an attack. The poor thing never  
  
even had a chance, Noah mused as the feeding frenzy went on behind the rows of lockers. Noah crawled back in through the window,   
  
very careful about not making noise as his hand tightly gripped a single grenade. He reached one of the zombie cops and looked  
  
back at the monsters as he bent over the corpse. His radio was turned all the way down, the static from four monsters this close   
  
to him would have alerted them of his prescense before he'd even got in the window. Noah removed the cop's nightstick, having an  
  
idea as he walked in a crouch over to another dead guard and repeated the robbing process, also snatching his handcuffs away.   
  
The gorillas were done eating now, and began to roam around the room. It was time to go.   
  
Noah stayed on the opposite side of the lockers, keeping distance between the monsters and himself. The dead guard was not so dead as Noah   
  
had assumed, and grabbed his leg with a sudden burst of energy and a loud moan. Noah almost had a heart attack, freed his leg   
  
and pulled the pin from his grenade, letting it clatter loudly to the floor and roll into plain sight.   
  
The monsters bellowed murderous intentions as Noah ran for the window, diving out of it as he counted backwards from five.   
  
He was safely away and running towards his next destination when the explosion went off, hearing faint shouts of pain along with it.  
  
Noah kept up the pace for a good half hour, until his leg started bothering him again. He was over halfway to the park now,   
  
and stopped long enough to try out his idea. The sticks he'd lifted from the cops were pretty old fashioned, yet still modern enough  
  
to have the holes at one end for attaching rope or whatever you liked. Noah took the handcuffs he'd stolen, and smiled as he found   
  
they were slim enough to fit through the nightstick holes. He tightened them up, smiling wider as he swung his new device around a litte  
  
to test. Perhaps he'd seen too many movies, but nightsticks were extremely tough and having a rudimentary pair of nunchaku made with them  
  
seemed hardly the worst idea in the world. Noah set off for the park again, looping his new close range weapon around his belt.   
  
Estelle had been quite right about his situation after all, Reginald would be after him like gangbusters soon. That would mean   
  
new and terrifying monsters most likley difficult if not damn near impossible to keep down. Noah ran towards the park hoping   
  
he had enough time to at least find the stone, so that when the nasties came he could just spilt and follow the map out of here.   
  
He realized there was no such luck, as he reached the park. Outside it's brick walls there were two gorilla creatures gurading   
  
the way in, with other things roaming around inside that he didn't recognize at all. "Ok hero, get on with it." Noah mumbled to himself,  
  
hoping against hope that the uglies waiting inside could be shot to death. 


	23. XXIII Victim

SILENT HILL- Victim  
  
The fog grew thicker and swirled around Estelle's ankles as she knelt down.  
  
In her mind's eye she saw a lone piece of paper fluttering in the breeze, and knew it was to be her map.  
  
A small stone kept it from being blown away, and Estelle knew that it could not have just simply   
  
happened to fall or roll onto the map in such a way. He had placed it there just for her, the one   
  
who governed the otherworld and all it's sinful workings. "Oh, oh God.." Estelle   
  
whimpered as she picked up the map and unfolded it, seeing a basic design of a building circled in red.   
  
It was a restaurant located on the other side of the town from where she now was, but Estelle knew  
  
the spirits would see that it wouldn't take long. "Oh please, please God don't make   
  
me go there.." Estelle begged softly, as she stared at the Super Burger's rough outline on the map.   
  
The wind howled past her well trained ears, as if God was whispering an answer for her.   
  
'Fine. Go back. Leave him here to die and go back to that filthy awful hospital, run away and   
  
never leave this place as long as you live.' No such words were spoken, not even in her head,  
  
and yet the message was painfully clear. The path was supossed to be hard, supossed to make you face  
  
all the things you try to forget, that's the point. And that was why she'd never made it before, because   
  
it had been hard and she had been scared to death. But now that Noah was here and would be waiting for her,   
  
since she'd met him she'd felt...And all at once Estelle's own fears became a haevy burden that needed to be thrown away.  
  
She knew that she loved him, she didn't doubt or question it. She just hadn't wanted to believe it, to realize it   
  
and be given hope by what it could mean. For so long she'd been there in the hospital, afraid to try again, afraid  
  
to leave the town. Afraid that she wasn't a good person, that she was evil like her family and deserved to be trapped  
  
in that horrible place forever. Now she had to level with herself, she had to let everything she felt and hoped for   
  
be exposed. The only way she would ever see Noah again was to beat this place once and for all, and it terrified her.   
  
"Please God.." Estelle prayed softly as she began walking. Her christian faith a secret no more. She'd always believed  
  
in it, and hidden it from her family out of fear. The things they would of done to her if they'd found out,   
  
the torture and eventual death they would have brought upon her. She would be one of those monsters stumbling about,   
  
hopelessly lost and tormented for eternity. "But haven't I been lost and in torment all this time?" Estelle   
  
asked herself, feeling a chill at her own words. The fog was so heavy now it would have blinded her if she'd seen  
  
the town with her eyes. Yet with her gift, she could see everything clearly, every turn and corner was bright as day.  
  
'You'll be blind if you leave, you know.' A voice in her head told her. It was a young voice, the voice of the child  
  
she used to be. Estelle shut it out, walking faster and then jogging as if she could outrun her own thoughts.   
  
She saw the restaurant loom in the distance, the squared Super Burger sign swinging back and forth as the wind pushed it.  
  
Estelle stopped outside the door, feeling suddenly like she was going to vomit and did. Another fear of her childhood,   
  
she hated to be sick. It was the most awful feeling in the world to her. She choked and gasped as bile spilled on the sidewalk,  
  
staining the cement with greens and yellows. It was already starting, the town was making her come to terms with herself  
  
one phobia at a time. "Ahhh!" Estelle cried out, as the last drops fell and she could breath again.   
  
She took big slow puffs, falling to her knees. "I won't give up.." Her raspy voice whispered through the naseua,   
  
as she stood upright and threw the door in front of her open. She could almost feel him, his strength and courage   
  
bleeding into her. She didn't just love him, she adored him. The kind of person he was, his kindness and stubborness.  
  
His steady refusal to stop or turn back, and his love for someone like her that he shouldn't even trust the way he did.   
  
He shouldn't love her, he should have ignored and hated her like the others all had. As Estelle entered the restaurant,   
  
she made up her mind to think of Noah, and try to discover why he cared for her so. Thinking about him made her   
  
less afraid, almost calm, and she would rather feel the confusion her love for him brought than the fear she would have   
  
to endure now that she was at last going to leave Silent Hill.   
  
Inside the Super Burger there was a slimy kind of grit on everything. The tables and booths which she'd known so well.  
  
On a wall to the right someone had traced their finger or some kind of thin tool through the dirt.   
  
'YOU KNOW YOU CAN NEVER ESCAPE US   
  
WHY NOT JUST GIVE UP NOW BEFORE YOU DIE?'   
  
Estelle knew it was just him again, as surely as he'd placed the map under a rock for her to find he'd also written that  
  
on the wall in an attempt to scare her off. She kept her thoughts on Noah as she explored around the restaurant. Everything  
  
looked so dirty and old. When she had turned fourteen, her first job had been here. Her parents had insisted that she   
  
start contributing to the family, taking her paychecks week by week. Since she was still underage they had come to collect them   
  
for her, giving her only a few dollars to spend and keeping the rest for what they only ever called 'God's share'.  
  
"Oh God!" Estelle cried, stopping in place as she held her head in her hands. She had the worst headache, remembering   
  
all those times pained her head so badly that she had often passed out from it before she'd simply blocked them   
  
all from her mind. 'Don't stop, 'Stelle.' Noah's voice spoke to her from somewhere. He'd never used those exact words  
  
in her prescense, that she could remember anyways. It was just her mind, dredging up her thoughts of him to keep her from  
  
turning around and running right back to Brookhaven Hospital again. "Noah.." she whispered, and took a deep breath.   
  
Suddenly she imagined him next to her, standing in that casual way even though his clothes were torn and his wounds  
  
still bled. "I have to keep going, I need to see him." Noah's voice echoed in her mind. Just as Noah had been searching  
  
for James, she now sought to be reunited with him. Was that all it was? The need to see someone that was so strong  
  
fear ceased to be of any consequence? Estelle wasn't sure about that, but accepted it temporarily as she passed   
  
the Super Burger's front counter. Behind it was a flashlight, shining a single beam of light into the blackness and   
  
seeming so small that she could have put it in her shirt pocket. Except that she was stil wearing the same black   
  
woolen sweater, devoid of any pockets above the waist. She hesitated, her hand freezing inches from the flashlight.   
  
Estelle knew quite well that as soon as she picked it up something would happen, either a monster would appear or   
  
something unimaginable and frightening would occur. Realistically, she didn't need the flashlight to see anything.   
  
But she was on her path now, and something like this was a trigger that would bring her to the next step. Without it   
  
she would never get out of here.   
  
Estelle took out the handgun, feeling it's heavy weight in her palm as she reached for the flashlight. She snatched  
  
it quickly, turning behind her and shining it as a heavy thud shook the floor. Someone was there, she could hear the   
  
light clicking of heels on the floor as the shadowy form hobbled closer. Estelle knew right away who it was.   
  
After she'd been working here for a little while, and sometimes a wrinkled old lady would come in with her son.   
  
She'd been very sick, and had with her at all times an oxygen tank that made a slow hissing noise as she sucked  
  
life from it's depths. Estelle heard the same sound now, as the figure was now close enough to see in detail.  
  
The old lady was missing her skin, bleeding from her exposed muscle tissue at the arms and legs as she came closer.  
  
The wheels on her tank squeaked away as she walked, one wrinkled and decrepit hand dragging the tank behind her as  
  
her other hand was clenched angrily. She had been so mean to her, Estelle remembered. She's yelled at her, saying that  
  
when she was a young girl she'd worked in many a restaurant and had never spilled coffee on a poor old lady's lap  
  
or dropped a plate with someone's dinner on it. She'd thrown a handful of change at her, insisting that such a clumsy and stupid  
  
little brat didn't deserve anymore than that for such awful service. As Estelle remembered pt, the old lady coming  
  
towards her moved her hand, throwing an overly large quarter at her. Estelle shrieked and ducked behind the counter,   
  
as the oversized coin flew by and left a crater in the wall before clunking to the floor beside her.   
  
The old lady moaned, her oxygen tank hissing as she advanced on her prey. Estelle shot up from behind the counter,   
  
firing the gun three times and gasping as the bullets bounced harmlessly away from her attacker. More moaning,   
  
as Estelle could here the old woman's tank wheels squeaking. In a moment she would come around the counter and kill her,   
  
and Noah would be leaving here alone, if at all. Estelle stood up again, this time she aimed for the tank.   
  
Four bullets sank into the metal casing, as another huge quarter was flung at her head. She ducked down behind the counter  
  
again, screaming as an explosion rocked the building. A round shape hit the wall with a splat, falling to the floor and rolling  
  
to where Estelle knelt behind the counter. The old lady's face leered at her, saying nothing as her nostrils still sniffed at the   
  
plastic tubing from the oxygen tank. Estelle screamed again, rage rushing ahead of her fear as she punched the head.  
  
Blood spurted from the old lady's face, as Estelle stood up and kicked it away, screaming with contempt for the old woman   
  
as her head sailed through the air and broke open agianst a table. There was a metallic clank, and Estelle saw a small piece  
  
of something protruding from the old lady's braincase. Estelle almost vomited again, as she approached the head and   
  
plucked a metal key from it. The first step was cleared now, as Estelle breathed a sigh of relief.   
  
Normal human eyes could not have spotted it, but as she looked around at the two other doors leading away   
  
from the dining room she could somehow feel which one the key belonged to. She moved hastily to it,   
  
inserting the key and sighing as it clicked and the door opened.  
  
"Noah.." She whispered again, as she stepped through the doorway. If she had run, or even walked just a little faster  
  
into the next room she would have died. The door had opened into nothingness, and not in the sense that nothing was there.  
  
Because Estelle realized quite quickly that something was indeed there, in that very room with her. Harmonic gibberish   
  
echoed through the blackness as Estelle took a cautious step forward, it sounded like a low hum mixed with faint whispers.  
  
Estelle pulled her top up over her mouth and nose, protecting herself from the nasueating smell. Even with her mind's eye,   
  
she saw nothing but dark. About two feet in front of her, the floor had simply ceased to exist. Beyond the edge of the dirty  
  
tiles it seemed almost as if she was inside some gigantic hole, a hole with no beginning or end. "This is some dead end.."   
  
Estelle observed, looking around her as she wondered how she could have chose the wrong door. The key had fit..  
  
Suddenly Estelle saw that she hadn't met a dead end at all, although turning back and trying another door would have been  
  
the saner choice. As she happened to look down around her feet, she saw something move sideways from below.   
  
Walking up the wall, if there actually was a wall here. More likely crawling up it, and in bending down to investigate  
  
she saw something odd. Indeed there was a sort of invisible wall, and as Estelle brushed her hand along it, she could feel concrete.  
  
It was bumpy and rough in a most familiar way, and of course she knew why. It was why the town had led her here, after all.  
  
"If I'm wrong.." Estelle mused, frightened to try it even though she knew it would work. She turned the flashlight off and   
  
slowly reached out towards the wall, moving slowly to keep from alerting whatever she had seen down there.   
  
Just as she'd thought, her body was drawn to the wall . She was now on her hands and knees facing downwards, crawling   
  
along without the slightest noise. She could feel the atmosphere changing, as the wall she moved along slowly became   
  
the floor. Sirens wailed faintly in the unseen distance, as Estelle kept thinking that Noah was right beside her,   
  
reminding her not to give up as her lips silently chanted the mantra. She couldn't let herself give up now,   
  
no matter what she found. Her attempt at stealth failed, as whatever she'd seen in the darkness earlier   
  
was now follwing her, and catching up quickly. As she rose to her knees with the handgun drawn, the wall did  
  
finally become the floor and a sudden rush of inertia made her stomach turn. Estelle turned the flashlight back on,   
  
gaping in horror as she saw the monster bearing down on her. It scampered wildly on furry paws, hissing as it   
  
neared her. Estelle fought to keep from turning away in disgust, the monster looked like..  
  
No It WAS a cat whose fur had once been a steely grey-blue.   
  
It's coat now dripped red and smelled terrible, as wet cats always do.   
  
When she was not quite ten, her father had lost his temper over her not tending to the cat she'd found and   
  
brought home. He yelled at her for when she'd had no time or just forgotten to feed it before school,   
  
he'd cussed over her not always being there when the litter box needed to be changed, and he'd gone on and on   
  
about how irresponsible his little girl was. And when she'd come home from school the next day, her cat was waiting for   
  
her on the front steps. Drowned in the lake by her father, a small paper bag pulled over it's poor head.   
  
And there it had stayed, as the creature yowled and leapt at her. The bag had since bonded with the cat's body,   
  
now seeming more like bread dough and forming to the cat's sideways head. It jittered and swung crazily as Estelle  
  
brought the gun across her attacker's side, falling to the floor with it as she pulled the trigger twice. 


	24. XXIV Do You Dismember Me?

SILENT HILL- DO YOU DISMEMBER ME?  
  
Estelle came back to the world with a jolt, waking abruptly as she heard a faint sound. She looked upwards from her place on the floor and saw a  
  
large overhead fan. It was set to the highest speed, the blades whirling around and catching the egde of a flystrip with every rotation.  
  
The sound she'd heard had been a dead fly hitting the cement floor as the fan blades continued to dislodge more of them from the flystrip.  
  
Estelle sat hugging her knees, cringing in disgust as she watched. Ten flies had piled where they all fell, and yet the strip was still  
  
so covered that not a speck of the amber substance holding them could be seen. "I don't want to be here.." Estelle's thoughts escaped  
  
her mouth without permission, as she made herself look around. She didn't want to see what else was here, waiting for her.  
  
The town could call horrible images from your own mind, she'd seen it happen so many times before. Men and women alike  
  
had been driven utterly insane right before her eyes, Silent HIll had that kind of power. And here she was, daring it to drive her insane as well.  
  
But there was a morbid curiousity stirring inside her, as she stood and realized that the monster she'd fought with only moments ago had  
  
mysteriously vanished. A large pool of blood stained the floor quite near to where she'd landed, which suggested that it was dead  
  
or too wounded to continue the fight. Either way, it didn't seem that Estelle had to worry about it for the time being. She began to explore  
  
the expansive kitchen, recalling the actual memories the town had created this place from. The Happy Burger kitchen had always been  
  
so dirty, the restaurant had been shut down for a good reason. People had gotten sick, a lot of people. Estelle had come into the kitchen  
  
with an order one day, and seen with her own eyes what was going on. The health inspectors would give the restaurant a passable review,  
  
in exchange for some kind of drug. Estelle had been watching from just inside the kitchen door, as one of the cooks shook hands with  
  
a helth inspector. In the cook's hand had been a small plastic baggie filled with white powder, and the insepctor had left with it in his  
  
jacket pocket. God, if anyone had ever seen her there she would have died. Her own family would have murdered her, or turned her  
  
into one of those ghastly monsters. The kitchen she now found herself in was an almost chidish characiture of the Happy Burger.  
  
The flystrips which had always been full of dead flies, had never been quite so overrun with them as the ones hanging from  
  
the ceiling. But to her they'd seemed about that disgusting and so the town had made them as such.  
  
The ceiling itself was stained as it had been in reality, plaugued by patches of brown from the grease filled air. Nothing had ever felt right  
  
in that kitchen. In fact the air had been so saturated with filth that anything she might have forgotten or left there overnight would be covered  
  
by a thin film the next day. Estelle wandered through the kitchen as she dabbled in nostalgia, her mind still grounded enough  
  
to keep the handgun out in front of her and reload the magazine.  
  
As she continued exploring, a dull thumping noise began to repeat itself over and over.  
  
Estelle thought the rhythm sounded like one of the ceiling fans must be catching on something, the timing was about right for that.  
  
As if to prove her wrong, the ceiling fans slowed, and then stopped. Estelle gazed upwards and watched as they ceased to turn, frowning  
  
at the rusty metal grates surrounding them. They had broken down all the time, and Estelle always thought about how someone could get their  
  
hand caught while working on one and be unable to pull it out because of the grating. The thumping persisted, and with no other idea what could be  
  
making it, Estelle became very nervous. She stalked through the kitchen, stepping slowly with her back foot ready to push off if she needed  
  
to move quickly. Something about the fans was bothering her, something she couldn't quite remember. A chill had rushed through her when she  
  
thought about someone's hand getting caught it them. But that had never happened, so why was it bothering her? Estelle crept around the  
  
large oven, pointing the handgun ahead of her as she rounded the corner. Her eyes went wide, the thumping noise no longer a mystery.  
  
Someone had been injured, very badly. But not because of the fans. She stood gawking at an electric slicer used for cutting meats and cheeses  
  
into thin sheets. The part that held whatever you were slicing slid back and forth on a rail, passing by a large circular blade that did the cutting.  
  
Hard as she tried, she couldn't remember his name. But there had been a young man working here as a dishwasher for a short time. A real loser, and lazy. He was also an alcoholic, and had come into work one day drunk off his ass, staring at hers whenever she came in as  
  
he worked in the back room. He had been so focused on her, that his hand had gotten dangerously close to the slicer's blade and he hadn't even noticed.  
  
Not until he'd lost two of his fingers.  
  
Estelle moved closer to the slicer, as the sliding mechanism hit something again and again, thumping away until she hit the switch that turned the machine off.  
  
It wasn't much of a surprise to her when she saw a human hand there, severed at the wrist and caught between the slicer's moving parts. On the index finger,  
  
was a simple gold band. Nothing seemed unusual about it at all, there was no inscription or markings, just a plain gold ring. Estelle started to reach for it,  
  
and stopped herself halfway. In this place, nothing barred the machine from turning itself right back on again, power or no power. She set her handgun  
  
down on the counter beside her, catching a whiff of the old smell this part of the kitchen always held. The steel double sinks attached to the counter  
  
were used for preparing all the seafood, which caused the area to smell like fish. Estelle went around to the back of the slicer, unscrewing the knob that held  
  
it's two parts together. After a few turns the knob came completely off, so that she could detach the entire sliding half of the machine. She set it down on the  
  
floor, and carefully reached her hand towards the gold ring. As she'd suspected, the machine promptly hummed to life once more, the blade turning at top speed.  
  
She easily reached the hand and removed the ring from it's finger, but had she not dismantled the slicer first, the slide rail would have pinned her  
  
wrist against the blade. As soon as Estelle got the ring free, an anguished male cry burst out from behind her. She put the ring in her pocket and  
  
whirled around, scooping the handgun off the counter as she turned. Nothing was there, no monsters came to attack her. The scent of fish had  
  
mysteriously vanished, replaced by the smell of decaying flesh. It seemed to grow darker, as if the sun had gone down. Except that there were no windows  
  
in that part of the kitchen, and the lights hadn't been on to begin with. The darkness became almost pitch black, and although her mind's eye could  
  
still see perfectly, Estelle knew she was supossed to use the flashlight now. It was annoying, not needing the flashlight to see and having to carry it anyway.  
  
The town had such strict criteria, no shortcuts or ways around the metaphorical items and their purposes. Estelle shined the flashlight ahead of her,  
  
her other hand holding the gun just behind it. Another random noise, this time it sounded like liquid dripping. As she investigated, she moved past the  
  
back room and began checking doors. The bathrooms were empty, but in the storeroom she found some supplies. Two health drinks and some  
  
more bullets set high up on a shelf. She also found a small pack of cinnamon gum, which she ignored at first. But her eyes saw an aura around the  
  
object, almost a halo of sorts, which meant it was one of the obscure things she would need later. With no other rooms to explore, Estelle found herself  
  
back in the kitchen, sipping a health drink and looking around for some sort of clue. She tried to follow the dripping sound, but it came from everywhere.  
  
It didn't get louder no matter where she went, in fact it almost seemed as if it were following her. With that thought, Estelle stopped in her tracks.  
  
Staying as still as she could, she turned her head to look behind her. The cat was back, not as wounded as she'd thought. It was crawling along the ceiling,  
  
and she realized it had most likely been stalking her ever since the lights had gone out. A steady drip of blood fell from it's side where she'd shot it,  
  
the sound finally growing closer as the cat moved. It pounced from it's perch on the ceiling, slahing with it's claws as Estelle sidestepped.  
  
She let it go past her, and ran after it as she fired the handgun repeatedly. Slugs bounced off concrete as she chased it, sinking three more bullets into  
  
the agile monster. A final bullet caught it's leg, sending the cat sliding across the floor before it crashed against the wall and lay still. Estelle wasn't  
  
about to assume it was dead this time, and kicked it viciously. She didn't stop until the cat was in pieces. Estelle stood over the bloody remians,  
  
breathing heavily as she resumed her exploring. Still there seemed to be no way to exit out of the kitchen, the sudden attack had changed nothing.  
  
Or had it? Estelle thought about how she never noticed the cat because it had been on the ceiling all this time, perhaps she just needed to think  
  
three dimensionally. Estelle shined the flashlight up to the ceiling, finding that she had been right. Almost directly above where she'd obtained  
  
the ring, a ragged hole had appeared in the ceiling. She climbed on top of the metal counter and found that she could just barely reach the passage,  
  
hauling herself into it with a series of efforted grunts. Now that she was actually inside it, the passage was obviously a vent shaft. She crawled along  
  
it, stopping to notice that the fans up here were still turning. Next to one of them, a copper looking ring lay on the floor.  
  
The shaft was quite small, and even with her petite size it's walls brushed against her body. Estelle crept to the ring on her hands and knees,  
  
the unguarded fan blades grazing her hair as she picked it up. It really was copper, oddly enough. As soon as she took it,  
  
the fan in front of her grinded to a halt. She could hear another in the distance, and it occured to her that there were more rings to find.  
  
She followed the sound to the next fan, where a silver ring had been stuck in the wall. As soon as she'd taken it, that fan had stopped also.  
  
Estelle repeated this process twice more, finding a bronze and platinum ring near two more fans.  
  
She looked at her new jewelry collection, almost admiringly as some of them were quite pretty. The last fan slowed to a stop, as the  
  
ground immediately fell out from under her. Estelle landed unhurt, sighing as she got to her feet. "Oh shit, here we go." She cursed in dismay,  
  
shining the flashlight up at the hold she'd fallen through. It was much like the one she crawled up into the shaft with, a ragged hole in the concrete of the celiling.  
  
Only this one seemed to be pulsating madly, like a quivering mouth that had spat her out. Estelle saw that the ceiling and walls and floor were no longer just  
  
concrete. Disturbing lines of red swam through them like an Etch A Sketch gone berserk. Obviously, the otherworld had snuck up and taken over.  
  
She had been dropped in what seemed to be a sealed off portion of the kitchen, no bigger than the average closet. In fact the only real thing around  
  
was a large reach-in cooler. The rest of the room was insane with animate red lines and dripping metal backrounds, as if everything were made from rusted  
  
chain link fences. In fact the effect of it all was so disorientating that she almost didn't see the long thin pole laying against a wall opposite the  
  
cooler. Estelle examined it, taking hold as she tried to pull it free. It hadn't been a pole at all, Estelle realized as it came loose. She frowned,  
  
inspecting the spot on the floor she'd pulled it from. It was dirt. For some odd reason, amongst all the metal link and concrete someone had actually  
  
taken a mound of dirt from somewhere, and buried the head of a large mallet underneath. "Hmm.." Estelle mused, smiling just a little as she swung  
  
it around. The weight was easy to handle, it would make a handy weapon if she lost her gun somehow. "Now about this.." She muttered, turning her  
  
attention back to the cooler. She couldn't see inside at all, the dirty glass was too dark. Something was defientely in there though.  
  
Estelle's eyes searched around until she spotted a large switch. She flipped it, watching as flourescent lights blinked inside the cooler, then stayed steady.  
  
And the next thing she knew, Estelle couldn't stop screaming. 


	25. XXV The Cadaver

SILENT HILL- The Cadaver  
  
The cooler was totally ruined, every inch of it's inner holdings stained red with blood and bits of flesh.  
  
Estelle flailed back and fell on her ass, sitting with her hands propping her up as she screamed more.  
  
It was so gruesome, she beagn to feel like she was going to vomit again. Only in the otherworld would she ever  
  
have to see something so unthinkable. It used to be a man, Estelle assumed. Until someone had taken whatever  
  
implements of mutilation and turned him into what she now saw. And it wasn't just the gore, the deed had been done  
  
with a certain dark sadism. The entire body also held severe burns.  
  
It was probably humorous, if only to the one that had murdered him.  
  
The head lay sideways on the bottom shelf of the cooler, the eyes half closed while the mouth hung open in horror.  
  
The expression suggested that he had died very slowly, his eyes blank instead of wide with shock at the pain  
  
he must have felt. Which meant that by the time he died, the pain wasn't anything new. His torso was in several pieces,  
  
all bearing ragged stumps as if they were torn or ripped apart instead of cut. His lower abdomen was laid flat on the middle  
  
shelf, his upper half attached to the top of the cooler with stitching. Estelle noticed his arms and legs were whole, and  
  
yet oddly incomplete. One arm was set against the wall of the cooler, everything from the elbow on down just wasn't there.  
  
She had a morbid thought, and went around to inspect the cooler's outer side. There was the rest of his arm, somehow sticking  
  
out of the solid wall. It was the same with his other limbs, stuck half in and half out of the cooler. Estelle stepped back,  
  
and saw that the protruding arms and feet were placed in such a way that it looked as if he was trying to run.  
  
One arm was pointed upwards at a ninety degree angle, clenched into a fist at the end as if to curse the heavens.  
  
The arm at the other side was pointing downwards at the same angle, the hand open and fingers stretched tenuously.  
  
His feet appeared to be in mid-stride, as if the entire cooler could take off running. Posted high on one side of the  
  
reach-in, was a note. Estelle read it carefully, dreading any kind of puzzle that involved a dismembered corpse.  
  
ThE buTCHER To bAKE HER  
  
THe CANdLEsticK MAKer  
  
HUrT bY his LIES  
  
She murdErED tHE faKEr  
  
oNE pIEcE to hOLD hER  
  
aNOThER tO toUCH  
  
sHE rEMADe tHe MaN  
  
tHaT hurt HEr sO mUcH  
  
oNE parT tO aDmIRE  
  
WIth wHIcH sHE cOULD lAY  
  
ShE SeT HiM oN fiRe  
  
WHen hE tRIEd tO ruN aWaY  
  
fIVe tIMeS dID hE hurT hER  
  
fivE tIMeS dId he LIE  
  
fiVe RinGS wIll hE wEAR  
  
tO PLeASuRE hER eYE  
  
oNE dArK aS heR sOUL  
  
hELD neXt tO hiS HEARt  
  
oNE bRiGHT aS THe sUN  
  
bEheLd bY tHIs PArT  
  
tWO shINe iN saId sUN  
  
HolD hIm FAst tO thE MaRK  
  
tHE fInAL oNe uSElEss  
  
tO bE plACed As sUCH  
  
Ah ME SucH a WretCH  
  
ShE LoVED hIm tOo mUcH  
  
"Goddamnit you bastards!" Estelle shouted, swinging her foot angrily against the cooler's side. Had she been looking inside,  
  
she would have seen the upper torso twitch at the impact and spurt a clot of blood. "You're already scaring the shit out of me,  
  
now you're making me think too? God!" Estelle ranted a bit longer, before she calmed down enough to read the clues over again.  
  
Clearly the number five was a part of it, since she had five rings. She paused and took the pack of gum out of her pocket,  
  
eyeing it suspiciously. Of course, she also had five sticks of gum. Estelle deduced that the rest of the poem was trying to tell  
  
her where each ring should be placed. But it spoke of things other than fingers, or toes. Places a ring would never actually stay,  
  
unless you...She sighed, rubbing her fingers against her temple. She understood all too well, feeling her stomach lurch again.  
  
She opened the pack of gum, unwrapping one stick and putting it in her mouth. She read the poem again as she chewed,  
  
trying not to wonder how safe anything found in a place like this was to eat. The dark ring had to be the copper, even bronze  
  
has a generally lighter color to it. And the other rings were all cleaned, perhaps even polished. While the copper ring she'd found  
  
was dirty and rusted. Estelle took the gum out of her mouth, forming it around the copper ring as she went back to the  
  
dismembered man. His upper torso, where his heart would be, seemed the right place according to the poem. She stuck the copper ring  
  
firmly onto the burned flesh. Nothing happened, and Estelle scratched her head. "Oh..God.." She whimpered, her face puckering in  
  
disgust as she place the ring inside the ragged opening of the torso. She wanted to scream and vomit and run away all at the same time,  
  
but held on somehow as her hand moved up inside the mess of organs until she found the heart. She pushed as much a she dared, hoping  
  
the ring would stay as she hastily withdrew her hand. The upper torso quivered, bleeding freshly as it spasmed against the stiches.  
  
Estelle was about to unwrap another stick of gum, and caught a glance of her hand covered with gore. She grimaced and looked around for  
  
a sink, finding a small basin in the far corner. She turned the handle and gasped as only blood came out of the faucet, small insects  
  
were flushed out as well and drowned in the liquid. "Oh come on.." Estelle pleaded, almost crying. She closed her eyes and  
  
put the stick of gum in her mouth, thinking only of getting out of here as she chewed. She was sure she'd throw up any second,  
  
but if she did the piece of gum would be lost. She only had five, and she needed every last one. Estelle fought against her stomach's  
  
rising bile, spitting the gum into her hand as soon as it was soft enough to stick. The sun must be referring to rhe gold ring,  
  
and the part beholding it could only be the eye. Estelle smoothed the gum over her gold ring, placing it gently on the eye of the head  
  
at the bottom of the cooler. When nothing happened, Estelle tried the other eye. It popped right in her face, and she did vomit.  
  
The curses meant for the town and everyone in it were drowned out by gutteral heaves, as she suddenly feared she would pass out.  
  
"I just...Want to get..Out of here...I wanna get away.." Estelle sobbed, as the last of it passed through her system.  
  
The man's face was convlusing, a facial tick afflicting his eyebrows as the mouth tried repeatedly to scream.  
  
Estelle slapped herself on the cheek, becoming her own tough drill sergeant that demanded she go on.  
  
She unwrapped the third stick of gum with her hands covered by her top, managing to get it into her mouth without incident.  
  
She did the same with a fourth piece, and thought about the next part of the riddle. It sounded as if the next two rings were  
  
like shackles, holding him fast to whatever her desire had been. Only one of his hands had fingers available, so she forced  
  
the other ring into his clenched fist. To her surprise, the fist suddenly came to life and refused to let her hand go.  
  
Estelle screamed and pulled away, her hand receiving a slight burn as if the man's skin were still on fire.  
  
The open hand grasped madly at the air, as the whole room seemed to share in his suffering. With the silver and platinum  
  
rings in place, she took the bronze ring, the useless one, and chewed on her last sitck of gum as she pondered where it should go.  
  
Technically the feet should be the useless limbs, and they had toes to slip the ring onto. But it seemed too easy, and there  
  
was still the lower abdomen to consider. "Every part comes to life when I give it a ring.." Estelle mused, her words  
  
slightly muffled by the chewing. "So if I put it on his feet, he could run away. But he can't run away.."  
  
Estelle pursed her lips, and all at once realized what the poem was about. How the man had hurt her.  
  
He'd been unfaithful, and gone around behind her back five times before she could no longer bear it.  
  
Of course, the spirits in this town would make her face the things she wanted to avoid most.  
  
The lower torso was laid flat on it's back, and Estelle shut her eyes as she turned it over. She held her breath,  
  
moving as quickly as she could to place the bronze ring over the man's burnt penis. "Please let me leave now.."  
  
Estelle begged, as the room continued to shake. The anguished cry she'd heard in the kitchen returned, echoing as  
  
the cooler sprang to life. The man's legs supported it's weight easily, as it lumbered after her.  
  
"No!" Estelle cried, backing off and raising the handgun. The cooler man raced towards her on all fours, the head  
  
inside screaming and muttering occultish nonsense as it ran into her. She fired off rounds as she fell, gasping  
  
as the bullets failed to go through the cooler's outer wall. The cooler man stood up again, snatched her gun away  
  
and slapped her across the face with it's other hand. Estelle toppled over and fell against the chain link walls,  
  
seeing the mallet still leaning beside her right where she'd left it. The cooler man got down on all fours again,  
  
charging as it had before. Estelle took the mallet into her grasp and jumped for all she was worth, landing on top of the cooler.  
  
"Just give it up!" She shouted hatefully, smashing through the cooler's exterior with the mallet after six or seven blows.  
  
The cooler man couldn't do anything about it, it's arms and legs couldn't reach that far. It tried to turn itself over  
  
and shake Estelle off, but she beat it to the punch and brought the mallet down on it's arm. It was screaming like a lunatic  
  
now, as was Estelle. The gibberish from the face was still incoherent, merely ramblings of pain as Estelle beat it to death.  
  
The world suddenly looked like a wet oil painting, swirling around her as the cooler man fell still.  
  
"I! Never! Even! Liked You!" Estelle howled, bashing the monstrosity even though it was already dead. She remembered him now,  
  
Lenny. The dishwasher that would always stare, and try to talk to her, and ask her out on dates. He would never give up, as many  
  
times as she'd refused, he was always trying one more time. Lenny Grancer, the idiot drunk who'd lost two of his fingers  
  
looking at her ass that day. She'd gone out with him once, not even a date really. She'd felt guilty about his injury  
  
and agreed to go somewhere with him just once, to satisfy her own conscience. Somewhere, had turned out to be a park in the woods.  
  
And he had tried to rape her, had almost suceeded. It was the only time she'd been glad to see her father, who had been watching  
  
silently the entire time. To her horror, he hadn't come out to stop Lenny. He'd just stood there, watching Lenny tear at her clothes.  
  
Telling her all the things he was going to do, rather she wanted them or not. How had she escaped? Estelle couldn't remember at all,  
  
and it worried her. The scenery came swirling back, as Estelle found herself in the Lakeview Hotel. "Estelle, dear." Reginald's  
  
sissy voice loomed from the shadows. "Whatever in the world are you trying to do?" 


	26. XXVI Hand Over Hole

SILENT HILL- Hand Over Hole

Noah's legs felt as if they were on fire. He could feel every muscle in them aching terribly, and his vision wasn't so clear anymore.

But he had to keep running, even if his legs did actually fall off he had to keep going. As Noah stumbled through the stone-paved

labyrinth that was Rosewater park, he risked a glance back at the way he'd come, and instantly wished he hadn't.

The creatures were gaining on him, bearing down on him, their cryptic groans and shouts proclaiming the collective intention to

devour him piece by quivering piece. Noah fired the handgun, backpeddling as he thinned the herd of evilness with bullets.

These were different, much different than the monsters he had been facing before. He had been attacked by the most terrifying things

from the moment he'd set foot in the town, with razor sharp teeth and claws and fangs, and heads and eyes where such features simply should not be.

But the creatures that now pursued him somehow made the others seem tame. They were almost all hands. They walked upright

on two arms, decayed flesh falling in chunks as they ran. These arms were attached to a large palm, an eye in the center as if the huge

hand were clutching it. The eye refused to stay still, twitching and looking every which way. The lines of the palm tensed with it, creating

the appearance of an eyebrow, and two more arms sprouted from either sied of the palm. Those arms carried pipes and broken bottles,

with massive biceps that made Noah's look piddling and weak. A final arm seened to be almost sewn onto the top of the palm, reaching towards

the sky as the fingers convulsed. The creature as a whole was horrifying, and as Noah's back hit something solid, they charged.

First one, dropping it's melee weaponry and cartwheeling towards him at an alarming rate. The others followed suit, moving as quickly

as bicycle wheels spinning down a steep hill. Noah's back was against a wall, he had no choice but to use the M-16 he'd aqquired at the

police station. The sound was absolutely intense, the rapid gunfire mixing with the screams of the hand monsters as they were shredded

by hot lead. There seemed to be hundreds of them, coming in waves as Noah mowed them down. The gun clicked empty,

the barrel white hot and smoking as Noah moved to his side. He crept along the wall, fumbling for the second machine gun clip.

His fingers found it, grasping it desperately as he prepared to reload. A hand monster rushed ahead of the group, snatching the ammo

deftly away from Noah and smashing the long metal cylinder of bullets against the side of his head. "Unnnff!" Noah cried,

his knees buckling as his vision blurred all the more. Red liquid trickled down his cheek, the gash in his temple feeling much more like a crater.

They were actually smart, Noah realized as he gave up at last. These disgusting bastards actually understood that without the magazine a gun

was useless. "Shit, I guess that's it then.." Noah almost laughed, finally allowing the madness to overtake him. He was losing more blood

from his head now, he'd lost so much already and now this...Humans have limits, Noah thought to himself. Even if these godforsaken monsters don't,

the truth is I've been bleeding to death for almost half a day now..Noah thought about that, really thought about it this time. Hadn't he come all this way

by following some strange path? A maze of riddles made up of his own life and fears? Hadn't he come to this park the same way? If so, how could he

be dying now, while still on his true path? The hand monsters crept closer, slowing down as they were almost close enough for him to spit on now.

They acted almost like they expected him to come out with something, as if they still viewed him as a threat, and not the helpless feast he saw himself as

at this point. "What are you waiting for, you sons of bitches.." Noah mummered, coughing sporadically as he tasted blood. He crawled away, his hands

reaching back and touching the moist grass, pulling himself backwards, still trying to escape. Yes, he had followed the path here, in search of the

stone Reginald wanted so badly. Something Noah couldn't let him find, something he had made up his mind to find first, and destroy it.

Was it that intent, that departure from his inner journey that had led him to such a demise? Noah kept crawling away from the monstrosites,

yelping softly as his hands felt no ground behind him. He scarecly had time to see one of the hand things swing a car fender at him, falling away

as it's one damnable eye glared at him, watching him fall. He passed out on the way down, never even noticing the large hole someone had dug

behind one of the park's statues.

"I'm not afraid of you or this place anymore." Estelle spoke stoutly, clenching her fists angrily as she stood toe to toe with her much taller Uncle.

"You can't keep me here." Reginald only laughed at her, his voice carrying that lazy wheeze nostalgic of her childhood. She remembered

now, about that night. Lenny was stripping her pants from her legs, her struggles only excting him further. Her father watching from the bushes.

His eyes flacid and uncaring, his mind taken by the cult. She had bent forward, grabbing her jeans as Lenny finally managed to remove them.

She'd taken them in her hands, wrapping them firecely around Lenny's neck in a rage. She'd scrammbled behind him, pulling the knot tighter

as she screamed and cried, her tears staining his naked back. He'd fought back, punching and kicking at her as she choked him. A dull snap,

and Lenny fell fovever silent. "You murdered that boy." Reginald answered at last, glaring down at her. "All he ever did was adore you,

and you mudered him in cold blood." Estelle swung her fist as her teeth clenched, striking her uncle in the stomach. "It was self defense!"

Estelle shouted back. "He was raping me! My father didn't help me, he just sat there watching, not caring about me at all! You're the murderer,

you and this damn religion! You're the ones who should be punished, not me!" Reginald slapped her hard across the cheek, shoving her into

a chair and standing in a fury. "I've had all I can stomach of your stubborn rebellion, little one." Reginald hissed, clutching his stomach.

He chanted in the old speak, the language the cult had used to create a literal hell on earth. The chair Estelle sat in suddenly came to life,

an eerie shape of a face protruding from the seat. The armrests were suddenly made of barbed wire, wrapping their lengths around Estelle's arms.

The legs followed suit, entwining her feet so that she was held firmly in place. Estelle howled as the wire dug into her flesh, the face

between her legs rising up from the seat, groaning at her.

"I should have killed you, long ago Estelle. The instant you refused to embrace your fate, your family."

Estelle sais nothing, bearing with the pain as she glared at her uncle, wishing Noah would come and kill him.

She hated the thought as soon as it crossed her mind, that she might need anyone, espeically a man, running to her rescue when

Noah had no place even trying to fight Reginald. He had been called, summoned by her.

She was the one who should have taken a stand before now, and ended her family's evil.

Now there was nothing she could do, and in a few moments she would finally die and be free of all that had haunted her in life.

Reginald cried out, falling first to his kness and then face down on the carpet.

Blood flowed out from under his corpse, as a ghostly image of Estelle's uncle rose from the body. "No you don't, damn old fool!" A figure

spoke from the shadows, stepping out from behind Reginald's body with something large and pointy. It was a blade attached to a triangular

wodden hilt, barely even a sword. Yet Estelle had seen the members of her family's cult kill over such things in the past, amassing them

in a large room with various other artifacts. The cloaked man jammed the sword into Reginald's corpse, pinning it to the floor like a butterfly

in a child's collection. The ghost wailed and fell back, writhing in despair as the man stepped closer to Estelle, chanting a few words of old speak

to return her chair to normal. "I...Thank you.." Estelle said softly, confused as she stared at her dead uncle. "You ought not to thank me.."

The stranger said, his voice unmistakably wily. "I need you alive, that's all." Estelle gasped suddenly, turning to look at the man as he

removed his hood. Long golden locks of hair fell around his face, his thin smile frightening her as his hand took hold of her injured arms.

"What...Who are you?!" Estelle shouted, struggling. She heard a buzzing, familiar sound, reminiscent of the hospital she'd stayed in for so long..

Clicking stiletto heels could be heard, as Estelle realized the hotel room was gone. What surrounded her now was a clockwork of metallic

structures, a nurse walking obediently over to them. the squeaking wheels of the chair she pushed ahead of her made Estelle tremble.

She couldn't stay awake, the buzzing ordered her to sleep. Her last thoughts were those of regret. For meeting Noah, for falling in love with him,

and now, becoming bait to trap him with.


End file.
